An  Appeal 
for  the  Preservation  of 

CITY    HALL  PARK 

NEW  YORK 


with 


A   Brief  History  of  the  Park 


The  American 
Scenic   and   Historic   Preservation  Society 
Tribune  Building,  New  York 
April,  1910 


Ex  ICthrtH 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


FORT   NEW  AMS 


NEW  YORK  )  ,  IO51 


IVben  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"  Ever'tbinQ  comes  t'  bim  wbo  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/appealforpreservOOhall_0 


An  Appeal 
for  the  Preservation  of 

CITY    HALL  PARK 

NEW  YORK 

with 


A   Brief  History  of  the  Park 


The  American 
Scenic   and   Historic   Preservation  Society 
Tribune  Building,  New  York 
April,  1910 


GTfje  American 
Scenic  anti  J^&toric  Jkeserbatum  ^>oaetp 

If)cabn uartrr s  : 
Eribune  Putlbtng,  J^eto  f^orfe 


Honorary  iPresibent 

J.  PIERPONT  MORGAN,  LL.D. 

$re£iibent 

GEORGE  F.  KUNZ,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D. 

Vitt-lBnsititnti 

Hon.  GEORGE  W.  PERKINS  HENRY  M.  LEIPZIGER,  Ph.D. 

Hon.  CHARLES  S.  FRANCIS  Col.  HENRY  W.  SACKETT 

treasurer  Counsel 

Hon.  N.  TAYLOR  PHILLIPS  HENRY  E.  GREGORY 

Hanbscape  grcfjttect 

Hon.  SAMUEL  PARSONS 

Secretary 

EDWARD  HAGAMAN  HALL,  L.H.D 

trustees 

EDWARD  D.  ADAMS,  LL.D.  Hon.  THOMAS  H.  LEE 

Prof.  L.  H.  BAILEY  HENRY  M.  LEIPZIGER,  Ph.D. 

REGINALD  PELHAM  BOLTON  OGDEN  P.  LETCHWORTH 

Com.  HERBERT  L.  BRIDGMAN  HIRAM  J.  MESSENGER 

H.  K.  BUSH-BROWN  J.  PIERPONT  MORGAN,  LL.D 

D.  BRYSON  DELAVAN,  M.D.  IRA  K.  MORRIS 

Hon.  CHARLES  M.  DOW  JOHN  DE  WITT  MOWRIS 

Hon.  CHARLES  S.  FRANCIS  GORDON  H.  PECK 

Hon.  ROBERT  L.  FRYER  Hon.  GEORGE  W.  PERKINS 

HENRY  E.  GREGORY  Hon.  N.  TAYLOR  PHILLIPS 

ROCELLUS  S.  GUERNSEY  Hon.  THOMAS  R.  PROCTOR 

FRANCIS  WHITING  HALSEY  Hon.  J.  HAMPDEN  ROBB 

SAMUEL  VERPLANCK  HOFFMAN  Col.  HENRY  W.  SACKETT 

Hon.  WILLIAM  B.  HOWLAND  CHARLES  A.  SPOFFORD 

Hon.  THOMAS  P.  KINGSFORD  Hon.  STEPHEN  H.  THAYER 

GEORGE  F.  KUNZ,  Ph.D.,  ScD.  ALBERT  ULLMAN 

FREDERICK  S.  LAMB  CHARLES  D.  VAIL,  L.H.D 
FRANK  S.  WITHERBEE 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  THE 


PRESERVATION  OF  CITY  HALL  PARK 
IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 


The  American  Scenic  and  Historic  Preservation  Society 
appeals  to  all  public  spirited  citizens  to  use  their  influence  to 
prevent  the  appropriation  of  park  space  in  City  Hall  Park,  New 
York,  for  an  enlarged  County  Court-house,  by  addressing  their 
remonstrances  to  the  Chairmen  of  the  following  Boards  in 
whose  hands  the  decision  of  the  question  rests  : 

BOARD  OF  ESTIMATE  AND  APPORTIONMENT 

His  Honor  William  J.  Gaynor,  Mayor,  as  Chairman  of  the 
Board,  City  Hall. 

Hon.  Wm.  A.  Prendergast,  Controller,  No.  280  Broadway. 

Hon.  George  McAneny,  President  of  Manhattan  Borough, 
City  Hall. 

Hon.  Alfred  E.  Steers,  President  of  Brooklyn  Borough, 
Borough  Hall,  Brooklyn. 

Hon.  Cyrus  C.  Miller,  President  of  Bronx  Borough,  3d 
avenue  and  177th  street,  Bronx. 

Hon.  Lawrence  Gresser,  President  of  Queens  Borough, 
Borough  Hall,  Long  Island  City. 

Hon.  George  Cromwell,  President  of  Richmond  Borough, 
Borough  Hall,  New  Brighton. 

Hon.  John  Purroy  Mitchel,  President  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen,  City  Hall. 

COUNTY  COURT-HOUSE  BOARD 

Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,  Chairman^  2  Rector  street. 
Hon.  Edward  M.  Grout,  in  Broadway. 
L.  Laflin  Kellogg,  Esq.,  115  Broadway. 
E.  Clifford  Potter,  Esq.,  137  Broadway. 
Charles  Strauss,  Esq.,  Secretary,  141  Broadway. 


3 


The  situation  is  as  follows :  City  Hall  Park,  which  fifty 
years  ago  contained  10^  acres  before  the  Posloffice  site  was 
sold,  now  contains  about  8^2  acres.  This  space  contains  the 
City  Hall,  the  County  Court-house  at  its  rear  facing  Chambers 
street;  the  City  Court-house  east  of  the  latter;  the  kiosks 
of  the  subway;  the  superstructures  of  the  underground  public 
conveniences;  a  fountain  and  the  statue  of  Nathan  Hale. 

The  Court-house  board  now  proposes  to  erect  on  the  site 
of  the  County  Court-house  an  enormous  structure  extending 
almost  the  entire  distance  along  Chambers  street  from  Broadway 
to  Centre  street.    If  such  a  project  be  carried  into  execution, 

It  will  greatly  reduce  the  open  space  of  what  has  been  the 
City  Common  for  over  two  centuries; 

It  will  encroach  further  than  heretofore  upon  land  made 
sacred  by  venerated  traditions  of  every  period  of  our  City's 
history; 

It  will  overshadow  the  City  Hall,  which  is  one  of  the  archi- 
tectural treasures  of  the  City; 

It  will  prevent  the  symmetrical  architectural  development 
of  a  Civic  Center  around  City  Hall  Park  commensurate  with 
the  dignity  of  the  Metropolis  of  the  New  World  and  similar  to 
those  of  other  large  cities  in  America  and  Europe; 

It  will  increase  the  congestion  of  traffic  at  a  point  already 
greatly  congested; 

It  will  impair  the  City's  financial  credit  by  a  confession  of 
past  improvidence  and  by  proclaiming  that  the  city's  financial 
resources  are  at  last  so  exhausted  that  it  cannot  afford  to  buy 
a  building  site  and  must  therefore  consume  its  park  space — 
reserved  for  future  generations — in  order  to  house  its  courts; 

And  it  will  establish  a  precedent  for  still  further  encroach- 
ments in  this  and  other  public  parks,  the  ultimate  effect  of 
which  cannot  be  foreseen. 

It  is  apparent  that  a  crisis  has  arrived  in  which  every  public 
spirited  citizen,  as  he  values  the  city's  parks,  should  rally  to 
their  defence. 

For  seven  years  successive  Court-house  Commissions  have 
been  seeking  a  site  for  a  larger  building,  considering  at  various 
times  sites  in  City  Hall  Park,  Battery  Park,  Washington  Square 
and  Union  Square.  Last  year,  when  the  Court-house  Com- 
mission appeared  to  favor  placing  the  Court-house  in  Washing- 
ton Square,  this  Society  at  its  Annual  Meeting  Jan.  21,  1909, 


4 


adopted  a  resolution  declaring  "that  in  the  opinion  of  this 
Society,  it  is  against  the  interests  of  the  city  and  contrary  to  its 
settled  policy  and  the  sentiment  of  the  people  that  any  part  of  a 
public  park  should  be  used  for  a  court-house  or  other  municipal 
building." 

The  Washington  Square  site  was  abandoned,  and  this  year 
the  Court-house  Board  secured  an  amendment  to  the  law 
under  which  it  is  acting  permitting  it  to  locate  the  building  in 
City  Hall  Park.  This  plan  has  aroused  the  most  earnest  pro- 
test from  the  public.  Popular  sentiment  on  this  subject  was 
unmistakably  manifested  at  the  hearing  before  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment  in  the  City  Hall  on  March  18, 
1910,  when  the  chamber  was  crowded  almost  to  suffocation  and 
when  the  limits  of  the  hearing  did  not  suffice  to  allow  all  the 
protestants  to  speak.  At  the  present  moment  the  Court-house 
Board  is  considering  alternative  plans  and  will  soon  make  final 
recommendations  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment, 
the  final  arbiters. 

The  objections  of  this  Society  are  based  on  the  ground  that 
the  appropriation  of  public  park  space  for  a  building  is  a  viola- 
tion of  the  principle  upon  which  our  public  parks  are  created,  is 
contrary  to  public  policy,  and  in  the  present  instance  is  unneces- 
sary as  other  sites  are  available.  For  22  years  persistent  efforts 
have  been  made  to  encroach  upon  City  Hall  Park  for  a  public 
building  and  for  22  years  public  opinion  has  successfully 
resisted  the  effort.  In  1888  the  Legislature  constituted  a  Com- 
mission, "To  select  and  locate  a  site,  conveniently  situated,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  County  Court-house  Building  in  said 
City,  but  not  in  the  City  Hall  Park"  for  a  Municipal  Building. 
In  1889  the  Legislature  authorized  this  Commission  to  locate  a 
site  within  the  City  Hall  Park,  but  public  sentiment  revolted 
against  it  and  in  1890  the  Legislature  again  imposed  upon  the 
commission  the  prohibition  "but  not  in  City  Hall  Park.'''  In  1892 
the  Legislature  again  authorized  the  selection  of  a  site  for  a 
municipal  building  in  City  Hall  Park,  and  the  intense  indignation 
which  prevailed  in  that  year  and  in  1894  compelled  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  project.  Public  sentiment  is  no  less  sensitive  upon  this 
question  today  than  it  was  then.  In  fact  the  agitation  last  year 
which  prevented  the  location  of  the  Academy  of  Design  on  the 
site  of  the  Arsenal  Building  in  Central  Park,  demonstrates  how 
jealous  the  people  are  of  any  diminution  of  their  park  area. 


5 


As  the  city  finally  found  means  to  erect  its  municipal  build- 
ing on  property  which  was  not  a  public  park,  we  believe  that  a 
place  can  be  found  for  the  new  Court-house  without  going  into 
a  public  park. 

Within  a  period  of  thirty-five  years  and  forty-three  years 
respectively,  both  the  Post  Office  and  Federal  Court-house  at 
the  south  end  of  the  Park  and  the  County  Court-house  at  the 
north  end  have  been  outgrown,  and  there  is  every  probability 
that  the  new  County  Court-house  proposed  for  City  Hall  Park 
would  be  outgrown  in  an  equal  period  and  the  city  eventually 
compelled  to  go  elsewhere  for  a  larger  site  or  encroach  still 
further  upon  the  park.  It  would  therefore  seem  to  be  the 
policy  of  wisdom  to  look  at  least  fifty  years  ahead  and  provide 
for  future  needs  by  locating  the  new  Court-house,  not  only 
where  it  will  not  encroach  upon  present  park  space,  but  also 
where  it  will  have  room  for  future  expansion. 

The  growth  of  population,  the  increase  in  the  holding 
capacity  of  the  buildings  and  the  augmented  congestion  at  and 
around  City  Hall  Park  counsel  the  removal  of  all  buildings 
from  the  Park  except  the  City  Hall  itself,  and  the  recovery  of 
the  area  occupied  by  the  Post  Office,  rather  than  the  establish- 
ment of  the  principle  that  the  city  can  use  up  its  park  areas  for 
building  lots. 

The  following  historical  sketch  of  City  Hall  Park  and  its 
buildings  will  serve  to  indicate  the  deep  interest  attaching  to 
this  place  and  how  deserving  it  is  of  preservation  and  restora- 
tion. 


6 


AN  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 
CITY  HALL  PARK 


City  Hall  Park  has  been  known  at  various  periods  as  the 
Vlacte  or  Flat,  the  Second  Plains,  the  Common,  the  Fields,  the 
Green,  the  Square,  the  Park,  and  finally  City  Hall  Park. 

During  the  Dutch  regime  the  Vlacte  was  part  of  the  un- 
appropriated lands  of  Manhattan  Island  and  was  used  as  a  com- 
mon for  the  pasturage  of  cattle. 

Title  Vests  in  the  City 

The  title  to  this  area  was  given  to  the  Corporation  of  the 
City  of  New  York  in  1686  by  the  terms  of  the  Dongan  Charter, 
which  says  :  "  I  do  by  these  presents  give  and  grant  unto  the 
said  Mayor,  Aldermen  and  Commonalty  of  the  said  City  of  New 
York  all  the  waste  vacant  unpatented  and  unappropriated  lands 
lyeing  and  being  within  the  said  City  of  New  York  and  on  Man- 
hattans Island  aforesaid  extending  and  reaching  to  the  low  water 
mark,"  etc.  At  this  period  the  Common  was  a  wild,  uncultivated 
tract  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization. 

Delimitation  of  the  Park 

The  outlining  of  the  form  of  the  Park  was  a  process  of 
gradual  evolution.  The  first  boundary  was  made  by  the  ram- 
bling old  Post  Road,  which  came  down  approximately  along  the 
line  of  the  Bowery  and  Chatham  street  (now  Park  Row)  to 
Broadway,  just  south  of  the  present  post-office.  This  road  fol- 
lowed one  of  the  routes  designated  in  the  act  of  June  19,  1703, 
entitled  "An  act  for  the  Laying  out  Regulateing  Clearing  and 
Preserving  Publick  Comon  highways  thro'out  this  Colony." 
The  Commissioners  appointed  under  this  act  filed  their  survey 
June  16,  1707,  laying  out  the  road  "to  begin  from  the  gate 
at  Spring  Garden  to  Fresh  Water,  the  course  east  by  north." 
The  Spring  Garden  occupied  the  southern  half  of  the  site  of  the 
present  Saint  Paul  Building,  which  stands  on  the  southern 
corner  of  Ann  street  and  Broadway.  The  new  road  was  named 
Chatham  street  in  1774. 

The  western  boundary  of  the  future  park  was  indicated  in 
the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  by  a  farm  road  which, 


7 


running  between  the  King's  Farm  on  the  west  and  the  Common 
on  the  east,  extended  from  the  junction  of  the  Post  Road  with 
Broadway  at  the  present  Vesey  street  northward  to  Anthony 
Rutgers  farm  at  about  Worth  street  (formerly  Anthony  street). 
On  this  road,  extending  along  almost  the  entire  length  of  the 
present  Park,  was  a  rope-walk,  which  appears  on  a  map  of  1728 
without  the  owner's  name.  This  appears  on  a  map  of  1730  as 
Dugdale  &  Searls'  rope-walk,  and  on  a  map  of  1742  as  Van 
Pelt's.    It  stood  in  what  is  now  Broadway. 

In  1760,  53  years  after  Chatham  street  was  surveyed  on 
one  side  of  the  Common,  Broadway  (first  called  Great  George 
street)  was  surveyed  on  the  other  side.  The  Common  Council 
archives  record  that  "  Mr.  Marschalk,  one  of  the  City  Surveyors, 
produced  to  this  board  the  draft  or  plan  of  a  road  which 
he  hath  lately  laid  out  by  direction  of  the  Corporation,  viz., 
beginning  from  the  Spring  Garden  House  where  the  street 
is  now  of  the  breadth  of  82  feet  6  inches,  and  extending  from 
thence  north  37  degrees  30  minutes  east  until  it  comes  to  the 
ground  of  the  late  Widow  Rutgers,  leaving  the  street  thereof 
50  feet  in  breadth,  which  is  approved  by  this  Board." 

Between  these  two  diverging  highways,  property  bounda- 
ries at  and  immediately  north  of  the  present  Chambers  street 
were  indefinite  and  the  Common  gradually  merged  into  the 
negroes'  burial  ground  beyond.  In  June,  1796,  the  boundaries 
were  adjusted  by  the  establishment  of  Chambers  street,  thus 
completing  substantially  the  triangular  outline  of  the  Park. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  the  triangle  at  present 
bounded  by  Centre  street,  Park  Row  and  Chambers  street  was 
a  part  of  the  Park  area  and  constituted  its  northeast  angle.  In 
1835  the  Board  of  Aldermen  voted  that  Centre  street  be  opened 
from  Chatham  to  Pearl  street  75  feet  wide;  and  that  the  grounds 
between  Tryon  Row  and  the  old  Hall  of  Records  be  thrown 
open  to  the  public  and  be  made  a  part  of  Centre  street.  In  1852 
the  intersection  of  Chatham  street  (now  Park  Row)  and  Centre 
street  was  widened,  the  railing  and  coping  of  the  Park  from  the 
Hall  of  Records  northward  being  set  back  9^  feet.  From  that 
point  to  the  south  end  of  the  Park  the  curb  was  also  set  back  a 
few  feet ;  and  from  time  to  time  other  alterations  have  been 
made  in  the  fence  and  curb  lines.  In  1867,  as  more  fully  stated 
elsewhere,  came  the  crowning  disaster  to  the  Park  when  the 
southern  end  was  cut  off  and  sold  to  the  Federal  Government 
for  a  post-office. 

8 


A  Place  of  Execution 

Returning  now  to  the  period  prior  to  this  delimitation  when 
the  area  thus  included  was  a  formless  Common,  we  may  recall 
the  uses  to  which  it  was  successively  devoted  and  trace  its  phy- 
sical development  to  the  Park  ot  today. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  and  first  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century  this  remote  and  unimproved  tract  was 
considered  an  appropriate  place  for  the  expiation  of  capital 
crimes.  It  is  believed  that  Lieut.  Gov.  Leisler  and  his  son-in- 
law,  Jacob  Milborne,  who  were  executed  for  alleged  treason  in 
1691,  were  hanged  on  the  Common  nearly  opposite  the  place  of 
their  burial,  which  latter  was  on  the  Leisler  estate  on  the  east  side 
of  Park  Row,  opposite  the  Park.  Gallows  were  erected  "  at  the 
usual  place  of  execution  on  the  Commons  "  from  time  to  time  as 
occasion  required.  Resolutions  to  that  effect  may  be  found  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  Common  Council  in  December,  1725, 
June,  1727,  and  doubtless  many  other  dates.  On  May  5,  1756, 
the  Common  Council  ordered  the  gallows  removed  "  to  the  place 
where  the  negroes  were  burnt  some  five  years  ago  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill  called  Catiemuts  Hill  near  the  Fresh  Water."  The  Fresh 
Water  was  a  pond  on  the  site  of  the  present  City  Prison  and 
Criminal  Court  building. 

The  First  Building— 1728-1776 

The  first  building  within  the  area  of  the  present  park  ap- 
pears on  the  map  of  1728  on  the  western  margin  of  the  Common 
about  opposite  what  is  now  Murray  street.  It  stood  in  front  of 
the  rope-walk,  from  which  it  was  separated  by  an  interval  of 
only  40  or  50  feet  and  to  which  it  apparently  belonged.  This 
or  some  other  small  building  appears  on  this  site  up  to  the 
building  of  the  Bridewell  in  1775. 

The  First  Almshouse — 1736-1797 

The  first  public  building  was  an  Almshouse,  which  was 
erected  in  1736  on  the  site  of  the  present  City  Hall.  To  distin- 
guish this  building  from  its  successor,  we  will  call  it  the  first 
Almshouse.  An  advertisement  in  that  year  invites  proposals 
from  suitable  persons,  stating  the  terms  on  which  they  will  per- 
form the  duties  of  Keeper  of  the  House  of  Correction  and  Over- 
seer of  the  Poorhouse  and  Workhouse.    Adjacent  to  the  Alms- 


9 


house  were  two  small  outhouses.  In  1757  a  small  piece  of 
ground,  "  of  the  length  of  two  boards,"  to  the  eastward  of  the 
Workhouse  fence,  was  ordered  to  be  enclosed  for  a  burial  place 
for  the  poor  of  that  institution.  This  Almshouse  remained 
standing  until  the  second  Almshouse  was  completed  in  its  rear 
in  1797,  when  it  was  demolished. 

City  Wall,  Blockhouse  and  Powder  Magazine — 1745 

In  1745,  the  year  after  France  had  declared  war  against 
England,  the  citizens  of  New  York,  fearing  an  attack  by  the 
French,  put  the  city  in  a  posture  of  defence.  Among  the  forti- 
fications erected  was  a  wall  of  palisades,  similar  to  that  which 
gave  the  name  to  Wall  street.  The  second  city  wall,  however, 
was  built  farther  north,  beginning  at  Mr.  Desbrosses'  house  (No. 
57  Cherry  street)  and  crossing  the  island  in  a  zigzag  course  to 
the  North  river  near  the  foot  of  Chambers  street.  It  was  built 
of  cedar  logs  14  feet  long,  and  was  perforated  with  loopholes 
for  musketry.  Within  the  wall  was  a  banquet  four  feet  high  and 
four  feet  wide.  Six  blockhouses  with  portholes  for  cannon  were 
situated  at  commanding  angles,  and  strong  gateways  were  built 
at  the  intersection  of  the  wall  with  the  Post  Road,  Broadway  and 
Greenwich  road.  One  of  these  blockhouses  and  gateways  was 
in  the  angle  of  the  wall  at  Broadway  and  Chambers  street. 
David  Grim,  who  was  living  at  the  time  when  the  wall  was  built, 
has  recorded  that  in  1746  a  large  party  of  Mohawk  and  Oneida 
Indians  came  down  the  Hudson  river  in  their  canoes,  landed 
near  the  foot  of  Laight street,  and  passed  through  the  Broadway 
gate  on  their  way  to  have  an  interview  with  Governor  Clinton 
on  Bowling  Green.  About  the  time  when  the  wall  was  erected, 
a  powder  magazine  was  built  on  the  Common  a  short  distance 
southeast  of  the  Almshouse.  The  powder  magazine  appears  on 
Maersch alck's  survey  of  1755  and  again  on  Montresor's  survey 
of  1775. 

The  New  Gaol— Old  Hall  of  Records— 1757-1903 
In  1757  the  Common  Council  appointed  a  committee  to 
purchase  materials  for  a  new  gaol  to  be  erected  just  east  of  the 
first  Almshouse  on  the  Common,  and  instructed  it  to  proceed 
with  all  speed  to  construct  the  same.  At  that  time  and  for 
several  years  previously,  the  basement  and  garret  of  the  old 
City  Hall,  which  stood  at  Wall  and  Nassau  streets,  on  the  site  of 
the  present  United  States  Sub-Treasury,  had  afforded  ample 

10 


accommodations  for  transgressors  of  the  law;  but  the  city  was 
growing  in  wickedness  as  it  was  growing  in  population,  and  it 
was  decided  to  erect  more  commodious  quarters  on  the  Com- 
mon. This  building,  which  stood  135  feet  east  of  the  present 
City  Hall,  and  which,  at  the  time  of  its  demolition  in  1903,  was 
the  oldest  municipal  building  in  town,  had  a  varied  and  stirring 
history,  being  known  at  various  periods  as  the  New  Gaol,  the 
Debtors'  Prison,  the  Provost,  the  Register's  Office,  and  lastly 
the  Hall  of  Records.  Originally  it  was  a  square  stone  building 
about  60  by  75  feet  in  size,  three  stories  high  and  facing,  as 
the  present  City  Hall  facts,  west  of  south. 

The  basement  consisted  of  three  rows  of  three  arched  vaults 
each,  varying  from  15  by  19  feet  to  18  by  28  }4  feet  in  size. 
The  arches  were  9  feet  high  in  the  center,  built  of  brick,  and 
rested  on  stone  foundations  3  feet  thick  and  stone  piers  7  feet  8 
inches  square  at  the  base.  The  partition  walls  of  the  cellar  were 
2  feet  thick.  There  appear  to  have  been  no  exterior  openings 
to  these  dungeons  originally.  The  doorways  connecting  them 
were  closed  with  heavy  doors.  Above  the  ground  the  building 
was  constructed  of  rough  stone  three  stories  high.  A  picture  of 
the  period  shows  the  entrance  in  the  middle  of  the  first  story  on 
the  southwestern  face,  with  two  windows  on  either  side,  and 
five  windows  each  in  the  second  and  third  stories.  The  side  view 
shows  four  windows  in  each  story.  The  roof  was  square,  with  a 
pediment  and  four  dormer  windows  in  the  front  view  and  four 
dormer  windows  in  the  side  view.  Above  the  centre  of  the  roof 
arose  a  cupola  which  contained  a  bell.  This  bell  was  used  to 
give  alarms  of  fire,  the  location  of  the  fire  being  indicated  at 
night  by  a  lantern  suspended  from  a  pole  protruding  from  the 
cupola  toward  the  endangered  quarter.  The  building  is  said  to 
have  cost  less  than  $12,000.  It  was  the  first  one  erected  for  ex- 
clusive use  as  a  jail.  It  was  an  imposing  edifice  in  its  day,  and 
standing,  as  it  did,  the  most  conspicuous  object  to  the  traveler  as 
he  entered  the  town  by  the  old  Boston  High  Road,  was  a  pow- 
erful admonition  to  all  comers  to  lead  a  sober,  righteous  and 
upright  life — and  to  pay  their  debts.  The  latter  was  by  no  means 
the  least  important  of  its  warnings,  for  in  those  days  they  had 
not  adopted  the  modern  beneficent  bankrupt  law  by  which  a 
man  can  swear  off  his  superfluous  financial  obligations  and  begin 
life  anew  with  a  clean  ledger,  if  not  a  clear  conscience.  At  that 
time  the  law  permitted  a  creditor  to  cast  a  debtor  into  prison,  a 


proceeding  which,  if  it  curtailed  the  debtor's  money-earning 
capacity,  at  least  gave  the  creditor  the  consolation  to  be  derived 
from  the  knowledge  that  he  was  not  the  only  person  suffering 
inconvenience. 

That  there  were  many  creditors  ready  to  take  that  sort  of 
satisfaction  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  new  gaol  soon 
came  to  be  known  as  the  Debtors'  Prison.  A  notice  in  Gaines' 
Gazette  and  Mercury  of  July  27,  1772,  indicates  that  the  public 
hospitality  extended  by  the  gaol  was  not  of  the  most  comfort- 
able kind,  and  was  supplemented  by  the  kind  offices  of  a  sympa- 
thetic and  "respectable  publick. *'  "The  Debtors  confined  in 
the  Gaol  of  The  City  of  New  York  " — so  the  notice  runs — u  im- 
pressed with  a  grateful  sense  of  the  obligations  they  are  under 
to  a  respectable  publick  for  the  generous  contributions  that 
have  been  made  to  them,  beg  leave  to  return  their  hearty 
thanks,  particularly  to  the  worshipful  the  Corporation  of  The 
City  of  New  York,  the  reverend  the  Clergy  of  the  English, 
Dutch  and  Presbyterian  Churches  and  their  respective  congre- 
gations, by  whose  generous  donations  they  have  been  comfort- 
ably supported  during  the  last  winter  and  preserved  from  per- 
ishing in  a  dreary  prison  with  hunger  and  cold." 

In  1764  the  Common  Council  authorized  the  Committee  on 
the  New  Gaol  to  erect  opposite  the  gaol  a  public  whipping  post, 
stocks,  cage  and  pillory  "  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  think 
proper." 

After  the  Revolutionary  War  the  building  continued  to  be 
used  as  a  city  prison  until  1830.  By  that  time  the  city  had  come 
to  need  better  quarters  for  its  public  records,  and  a  committee 
of  the  Common  Council  selected  the  old  gaol  for  such  use.  About 
$15,000  was  then  spent  in  remodeling  and  refitting  it.  The  orig- 
inal three  stories  were  transformed  into  two  by  changing  the 
floors  and  windows  ;  the  cupola  and  the  roof  with  its  dormer 
windows  were  removed  and  a  flat  roof  substituted,  and  the  build- 
ing was  lengthened  at  each  end  about  seventeen  feet  by  the 
addition  of  a  Grecian  portico  and  steps.  The  six  columns  of  each 
portico  were  of  the  Ionic  order,  and  supported  a  perfectly  plain 
entablature  and  pediment.  These  changes  having  been  made, 
the  rough  stone  exterior  was  nicely  smoothed  over  with  a  uni- 
form coating  of  stucco,  and  the  whole  transformation  was 
alleged  to  have  given  the  one-time  gaol  something  of  the  classic 
beauty  of  the  Doric  Temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  one  of  the 


t  : 


Seven  Wonders  of  the  World.  The  result,  however,  was  an  archi- 
tectural nondescript  possessing  neither  the  substantial  simpli- 
city of  the  original  building  nor  any  recognizable  resemblance 
to  the  beautiful  heathen  temple  of  the  Goddess  of  the  Silver  Bow, 
which  it  was  supposed  to  imitate.  The  old  bell  that  was  used 
to  sound  the  primitive  fire  alarms  was  placed  over  the  neigh- 
boring Bridewell.  When  the  Bridewell  was  removed,  in  1838, 
the  bell  continued  to  ring  out  its  alarms  from  the  roof  of  Naiad 
Hose  Company,  in  Beaver  street,  until,  a  short  time  later,  it  was 
destroyed  by  the  element  against  which  for  so  many  years  it  had 
given  its  warnings. 

In  1S32,  while  the  reconstruction  was  in  progress,  an  epi- 
demic of  cholera  broke  out  in  the  city,  driving  many  of  the  in- 
habitants to  the  outlying  villages  and  paralyzing  business.  Dur- 
ing the  prevalence  of  the  scourge,  the  work  of  remodeling  the 
gaol  was  suspended,  and  it  was  used  temporarily  for  a  hospital. 

Upon  the  completion  of  the  repairs  it  was  occupied  by  mu- 
nicipal offices  and  became  the  depository  of  the  city  records. 
Within  twenty-five  years,  however,  even  these  accommodations 
were  outgrown,  and  in  185S  the  Surrogate  was  obliged  to  move 
to  other  quarters.  In  the  following  year  the  Street  Commis- 
sioner followed  suit,  and  in  1S69  the  Comptroller  evacuated, 
after  which  time  the  building  was  in  sole  possession  of  the  City 
Register,  and  was  known  indifferently  as  the  Register's  Office 
and  the  Hall  of  Records. 

During  the  supremacy  of  the  Tweed  ring  (some  of  whom 
may  well  have  desired  to  obliterate  any  possible  suggestion  of 
the  original  character  of  the  building),  the  city  fathers  spent 
$140,000  more  on  the  ancient  gaol.  Their  "  improvements  "  con- 
sisted of  the  erection  of  another  story  above  Diana's  entabla- 
ture and  pediments,  and  the  further  enlargement  of  the  interior 
accommodations  by  the  simple  expedient  of  filling  up  the  inter- 
spaces between  the  columns  of  the  southwestern  portico  so  that 
these  columns  were  converted  in  appearance  from  pillars  to 
pilasters. 

In  1S97  the  City  Government  made  provision  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  new  Hall  of  Records  on  the  north  side  of  Chambers 
street,  and  in  December,  1S97,  the  Board  of  Aldermen  voted  to 
place  the  historic  old  building,  when  vacated,  in  the  care  of  the 
National  Historical  Museum  for  use  as  a  public  museum  of  his- 
torical relics.    Soon  thereafter  the  underground  rapid  transit 


13 


tunnel  was  begun,  and  the  Subway  Commission,  desiring  to 
locate  one  of  its  stations  opposite  the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  applied 
for  the  removal  of  the  old  Hall  of  Records.  The  demolition  of 
this  old  building,  hallowed  by  the  sufferings  of  American  patri 
ots  during  the  Revolution  and  many  other  traditions,  was  ear- 
nestly opposed  by  the  American  Scenic  and  Historic  Preserva- 
tion Society  and  other  civic  and  patriotic  organizations,  and  a 
strong  sentiment  of  opposition  was  also  voiced  in  the  press  ;  but 
an  application  was  made  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  the  removal 
of  the  building  on  the  affidavits  of  Inspectors  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Buildings  alleging  that  the  building  was  "  unsafe  "  and 
''dangerous  to  life" — a  condition  which  was  not  apparent  to  others 
who  inspected  the  building  at  the  time.  After  earnest  argu- 
ments in  opposition,  however,  Justice  Leventritt  announced  on 
October  10,  1902,  that  he  would  issue  an  order  for  its  demoli- 
tion, and  by  April,  1903,  the  sunlight  was  shining  into  the  un- 
covered dungeons  of  the  cellar  in  which  Continental  soldiers 
had  suffered  for  their  country's  sake. 

The  Upper  Barracks — 1757-1790 

In  the  same  year  (1757)  in  which  the  New  Gaol  was  erected 
some  military  barracks,  known  as  the  Upper  Barracks  to  distin- 
guish them  from  those  at  the  Battery,  were  erected  on  the  south 
side  of  the  present  Chambers  street  partly  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Court-houses.  The  Common  Council  records  show  that 
the  committee  appointed  to  confer  with  the  carpenters  building 
the  barracks  reported  the  following  resolution  : 

Ordered,  That  the  said  building  be  forthwith  carried  on 
under  the  direction  and  inspection  of  the  above-named  commit- 
tee, who  are  hereby  empowered  to  treat  with  such  persons  and 
provide  such  materials  for  the  carrying  on  and  completing  said 
work  as  they  shall  judge  proper  ;  and  further  ordered,  that  the 
said  building  contain  20  rooms  on  a  floor,  two  stories  high,  to 
be  21  feet  square,  420  feet  long,  and  21  feet  wide,  etc. 

During  the  Revolution,  to  accommodate  the  increased  num- 
ber of  the  King's  troops,  two  other  long  buildings  were  erected 
between  the  Bridewell  (which  stood  west  of  the  first  Almshouse) 
and  the  original  barracks  on  Chambers  street.  In  1784,  the  year 
following  the  evacuation  of  the  City  by  the  British,  the  Barracks 
were  leased  to  various  persons  for  residences.  In  1790  the  Com- 
mon Council  ordered  that  the  Treasurer  sell  the  Barracks  before 
April  20,  the  purchaser  to  remove  all  the  materials  by  June  1. 


14 


The  Bridewell— 1775-1838 

On  March  17,  1775.  the  Common  Council  approved  plans 
for  a  new  Bridewell  drawn  by  Theophilus  Hardenbrook.  This 
building  was  erected  between  the  first  Almshouse  and  Broadway 
and  was  finished  in  April,  1776.  This  institution  was  erected 
with  the  aid  of  a  lottery,  and  the  Treasurer  of  the  City  was  au- 
thorized to  take  1,000  tickets  of  the  lottery  "  on  and  for  the  risque 
of  the  Corporation." 

This  building,  which  made  some  pretence  of  architectural 
attractiveness,  was  built  of  dark  gray  stone.  The  central  por- 
tion, which  had  a  pediment  in  front  and  rear,  was  three  stories 
high,  while  the  wings  were  two  stories  high.  It  was  used  as  a 
prison  for  American  soldiers  during  the  Revolution.  On  Jan.  4, 
1777,  according  to  the  authority  of  N.  Murray,  there  were  800 
men  in  the  Bridewell,  and  to  reduce  their  number  it  was  alleged 
that  the  doctors  gave  them  poison  powders. 

The  prison  was  demolished  in  1838,  and  furnished  some  of 
the  material  used  in  the  Tombs  Prison,  which  was  then  in  course 
of  construction  in  Centre  street.  This  application  of  building 
material  for  a  similar  use,  but  in  a  different  form,  led  David  T. 
Valentine  to  quote  somewhat  lamely  Hamlet's  remark  to  his 
father's  ghost:  "Thus  it  is  permitted  to  revisit  the  pale  glimpses 
of  the  moon." 

The  Second  Almshouse— 1797-1857 

In  1794  the  Common  Council  resolved  to  apply  to  the 
Legislature  for  leave  to  establish  a  lottery  to  raise  $10,000  for  a 
new  Almshouse  (which,  by  way  of  distinction,  we  will  call  the 
second  Almshouse)  to  take  the  place  of  the  first  one,  which  had 
become  ruinous  and  unfit  for  use.  In  1796  it  was  resolved  to 
erect  the  second  Almshouse  to  the  north  of  the  first  house  and 
on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  County  Court-house.  In  1797 
the  second  Almshouse  was  ready  for  occupation,  and  Mr.  Harsen 
was  instructed  to  take  down  the  first  one.  In  181 2  the  functions 
of  the  Almshouse  were  transferred  to  the  new  buildings  erected 
for  that  purpose  at  Bellevue,  and  the  vacated  building,  under 
the  name  of  the  New  York  Institution,  was  devoted  to  various 
enterprises  of  a  public  or  semi-public  nature.  Among  the  vari- 
ous institutions  harbored  therein  were  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  the  Academy  of  Arts,  the  Academy  of  Painting  under 
charge  of  Alexander  Robinson,  the  American  Institute  and  the 


City  Library.  John  Scudder's  American  Museum  moved  into 
the  west  end  of  the  building  in  1816.  The  Deaf  and  Dumb  In- 
stitute, incorporated  in  1817,  opened  its  school  in  this  building 
in  1818  and  continued  therein  until  1828.  The  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History,  incorporated  in  1818,  also  made  its  home  there. 
On  March  26,  1818,  the  Chambers  Street  Savings  Bank,  the  first 
bank  for  savings,  opened  for  business  in  the  basement.  In  1824 
the  first  Egyptian  mummy  ever  brought  to  this  country  was  ex- 
hibited here.  In  1832  rooms  were  assigned  in  the  building  for 
the  use  of  the  United  States  Courts.  In  1857,  a  year  of  great 
financial  distress,  the  building  was  finally  torn  down,  partly 
to  relieve  distress  by  giving  work  to  the  unemployed. 

The  City  Hall— 1803-1910 

The  next  building  in  historical  order  erected  in  City  Hall 
Park  was  the  City  Hall  itself.  On  the  map  of  1803  it  appears 
plotted  on  the  site  of  the  first  Almshouse  (its  present  location) 
as  "the  new  Court-house."  The  first  City  Hall  or  Stadt  Huys 
stood  at  No.  73  Pearl  street.  The  second  stood  on  the  site  of 
the  present  United  States  Sub-Treasury  at  Nassau  and  Wall 
streets. 

The  first  foundation  stone  of  the  third  and  present  City 
Hall  was  laid  by  Mayor  Edward  Livingston,  September  20,  1803, 
when  City  Hall  Park  was  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  The 
plans  were  by  Macomb  &  Mangin.  The  names  of  the  building 
committee,  clerk,  sculptor,  architect,  master  stone  cutter,  master 
masons  and  master  carpenter  are  engraved  on  two  marble  slabs 
now  set  up  in  the  main  corridor  of  the  building  as  mural  tablets. 
The  edifice  is  a  beautiful  structure  in  the  style  of  the  Italian 
Renaissance,  215  feet  long  by  105  deep.  The  south  front  and 
sides  are  of  Stockbridge  (Mass.)  marble,  but  the  rear  was  built 
of  brownstone  from  motives  of  economy  and  in  the  belief  that 
the  city  would  not  grow  so  as  to  extend  to  the  northward  of  the 
building.  It  cost  something  more  than  $500,000.  When  com- 
pleted it  was  pronounced  the  finest  public  edifice  in  the  United 
States. 

The  city  government  first  met  in  this  City  Hall  on  July  4, 
1810,  while  it  was  yet  uncompleted.  The  finishing  touches  were 
not  put  on  the  building  until  1812.  (Further  details  concerning 
the  erection  of  the  City  Hall  and  the  historical  incidents  con- 
nected therewith  may  be  found  in  the  Ninth  Annual  Report 


16 


(1904)  of  the  American  Scenic  and  Historic  Preservation 
Society). 

Dispensary  and  Fire  Houses— 1817-1906 

Upon  the  map  of  18 17  there  appears  at  what  would  now  be 
the  corner  of  Centre  and  Chambers  streets,  where  until  recently 
a  fire-house  stood,  a  City  Dispensary  and  Soup  House,  estab- 
lished by  the  Almshouse  Commissioners.  A  little  later  the 
building  was  shared  by  the  Dispensary  and  a  Hook-and-Ladder 
Co.,  such  being  the  case  in  1835.  In  June,  1859,  contracts  were 
awarded  for  a  new  building  to  accommodate  the  steam  fire 
engines  and  for  Engine  Company  No.  42.  This  was  a  temporary 
frame  building  between  the  Hall  of  Records  and  the  building 
on  the  corner  of  Chambers  and  Centre  streets.  The  corner  site 
appears  to  have  been  dedicated  continuously  to  the  uses  of  the 
Fire  Department,  which  occupied  it  with  a  succession  of  build- 
ings until  the  last  one  was  vacated  Dec.  31,  1905,  and  was 
demolished  in  March,  1906. 

The  Rotunda— i8i8-i87o 

About  the  year  1818  a  building  called  the  Rotunda  was 
erected  on  Chambers  street  east  of  the  second  Almshouse.  At 
the  time  of  its  removal  in  1870  it  stood  between  the  present  City 
Court-house  and  the  fire-engine  house  which  was  removed  in 
1906.  There  was  no  space  between  it  and  the  City  Court-house 
on  the  west,  and  only  an  alley-way  between  it  and  the  engine- 
house  on  the  east.  The  Rotunda,  originally  a  circular,  dome- 
like structure,  sometimes  called  the  Round  House,  was  erected 
by  subscription  for  an  art  gallery  at  the  instance  of  John  Van- 
derlyn,  the  artist,  to  whom  the  city  granted  the  use  of  the 
ground  free  for  a  period  of  ten  years  upon  condition  that  at  the 
end  of  that  period  the  building  should  become  the  property  of 
the  city.  Panoramic  views  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  the  Palace 
and  Garden  of  Versailles,  the  City  of  Mexico,  etc.,  were  among 
the  pictures  represented.  After  the  great  fire  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  city  in  1835  the  Post  Office  moved  into  the  Rotunda  and 
continued  there  until  1845.  On  July  24,  1848,  the  Common 
Council  directed  the  New  York  Gallery  of  Fine  Arts,  which 
then  occupied  the  Rotunda,  to  vacate  the  premises  within  ten 
days;  and  in  August  the  sum  of  $2,000  was  appropriated  for  the 
purpose  of  converting  the  Rotunda  into  public  offices.  In  the 
course  of  time  the  exterior  appearance  of  the  building  was 


i7 


changed  and  its  interior  accommodations  were  enlarged  by  addi- 
tions which  squared  it  out  on  the  north  and  south  sides.  On  the 
south  side  the  addition  of  a  portico  with  four  Doric  columns 
gave  it  quite  a  classical  aspect.  When  the  newly  created  Board 
of  Park  Commissioners  entered  upon  their  duties  in  May,  1870, 
they  gave  City  Hall  Park  particular  attention,  taking  away  the 
old  iron  fence  which  surrounded  the  Park,  removing  the  rub- 
bish in  the  northwest  corner  left  from  the  building  of  the 
County  Court-house,  improving  the  unsightly  conditions  at  the 
south  caused  by  the  building  of  the  Post  Office,  and  removing 
the  Rotunda  and  an  old  fire-engine  house  in  the  northeast  cor- 
ner. At  the  time  of  its  removal  the  Rotunda  had  been  occupied 
for  20  years  by  the  Croton  Aqueduct  Board  in  company  with 
various  othes  municipal  offices. 

City  Court-house— 1852-1910 
On  June  5,  1851,  the  Mayor  approved  a  resolution  awarding 
contracts  to  the  lowest  bidders  for  a  three  story  building  to  be 
erected  "between  the  new  City  Hall  and  the  Rotunda  for  Court 
rooms  and  offices,  and  that  said  building  be  completed  on  or 
before  the  1st  of  May,  1852."  At  the  same  time,  $96,716  was 
appropriated  for  the  erection  of  the  building.  This  building, 
mentioned  in  the  old  municipal  registers  as  "No.  32  Chambers 
Street,"  was  erected  on  the  west  of  and  close  to  the  Rotunda. 
It  is  still  standing  bearing  the  inscription:  "Erected  A.D. 
1852.  William  Adams,  Commissioner;  Job  L.  Black,  Superin- 
tendent Public  Buildings."  It  is  about  75  by  105  feet  in  size. 
In  1904  an  additional  story  was  added,  and  it  is  now  4^  stories 
high. 

This  building  has  variously  been  known  as  the  Marine 
Court,  the  Court  of  Sessions  and  the  City  Court. 

The  Couaty  Court-house— 1861-1910 

The  County  Court-house,  which  fronts  on  Chambers  street 
in  the  rear  of  the  City  Hall  and  the  replacing  of  which  is  the 
subject  of  the  present  public  agitation,  was  begun  in  1861  and 
completed  in  1867,  but  it  was  not  then  and  it  is  not  now  com- 
pleted. It  is  of  Corinthian  architecture,  3  stories  high,  250  feet 
long  and  150  feet  wide.  Its  walls  are  of  Massachusetts  white 
marble.  It  was  designed  to  be  crowned  with  a  handsome  dome, 
the  summit  of  which  was  to  be  210  feet  above  the  sidewalk. 
Erected  during  the  extravagant  days  of  the  Tweed  Ring,  after 


iS 


it  had  been  the  medium  of  legitimate  expenditures  and  illegiti- 
mate peculations  amounting  to  the  enormous  aggregate  of  $16,- 
000.000  the  County  stopped  pouring  money  into  this  apparently 
bottomless  financial  pit  and  left  the  building  incomplete.  It 
has  been  variously  occupied  by  state  and  county  courts  and 
several  city  departments.  One  of  the  singular  contrasts  so 
often  encountered  in  history  is  presented  by  this  building, 
which,  erected  upon  the  site  originally  dedicated  to  the  relief 
of  the  poor  as  an  Almshouse,  cost,  according  to  common  esti- 
mate, $16,000,000.  This  monumental  piece  of  extravagance  is 
popularly  known  as  the  Tweed  Court-house. 

The  Postoffice— 1875-1910 

In  1867  the  City  committed  the  lamentable  mistake  of 
parting  with  the  southern  end  of  City  Hall  Park  for  a  United 
States  Postoffice  and  Court-house,  and  the  present  building  was 
occupied  in  1875.  As  there  appears  to  be  in  print  no  collated 
data  concerning  the  Postoffice  in  New  York  City,  it  may  not 
be  inappropriate  to  give  here  a  few  facts  concerning  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  postal  service  as  one  catches  occasional  glimpses 
of  it  in  the  various  records. 

Concerning  the  postal  service  during  the  Dutch  period,  we 
have  no  data  at  hand.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  letters  were 
carried  informally  by  travelers  and  captains  of  vessels  at  such 
rates  as  the  senders  were  willing  to  pay. 

Early  in  the  English  regime  the  office  of  the  Governor's 
Secretary  in  the  old  Fort  at  the  foot  of  Bowling  Green  appears 
to  have  been  the  depository  of  the  post  "  bagg "  where  letters 
were  received  for  despatch  to  their  destination  out  of  town. 
Such  was  the  case  as  early  as  1672. 

By  letters  patent  granted  by  William  and  Mary  under  the 
Great  Seal  of  England,  dated  Feb.  17,  1691,  to  Thomas  Neal, 
the  colonial  postal  service  was  established  on  a  more  systematic 
basis.  This  patent  gave  to  Neal  and  his  successors  authority 
for  21  years  to  carry  letters  at  such  rates  as  the  senders  might 
agree  to  give.  Andrew  Hamilton  was  deputed  to  act  as  Post- 
master General  for  all  their  Majesties'  Plantations  and  Colonies 
and  by  an  act  of  the  Colonial  Assembly  passed  Nov.  11,  1692, 
was  authorized  to  establish  "a  general  Letter  office"  in  the  city 
of  New  York  "from  which  all  Letter's  and  Pacquet's  whatso- 
ever may  be  with  Speed  and  Expedition  Sent  into  any  part  of 

19 


out  Neighboring  Collony's  and  plantations  on  the  main  Land 
and  Continent  of  America  or  to  any  other  of  their  Majesties 
Kingdom's  and  Dominions  beyond  the  Sea's;''  and  he  was 
authorized  to  appoint  "one  Master  of  the  Said  generall  Letter 
office."  The  rates  of  postage  were  fixed  at  9  pence  for  a  single 
letter  to  or  from  beyond  the  seas;  9  pence  for  a  letter  between 


EXPLANATION  OF  MAP 

The  old  Common  was  substantially  identical  with  the  triangle  bounded  by 
Broadway,  Chambers  street  and  Park  Row.  The  northeast  corner  was  gradu- 
ally worn  off  until,  with  the  opening  of  Centre  street,  the  Park  was  bounded  by 
Broadway,  Chambers  street,  Centre  street  and  Park  Row.  It  thus  remained 
until  1867,  when  the  Postoffice  site  was  sold,  since  which  time  the  Park  has  been 
bounded  by  Broadway,  Chambers  street,  Centre  street,  ParkRow  and  Mail 
street  (the  latter  the  shortest  street  in  the  city). 

I.  Site  of  ancient  burying  ground  for  negroes,  paupers  and  criminals  and 
for  American  patriots  under  British  rule  during  the  Revolution.  2.  New  Hall  of 
Records.  3.  Site  of  barrier  gate  and  blockhouse  in  angle  of  second  City  Wall 
of  palisades  erected  in  1746  (Maerschalck's  survey,  1755).  4.  Large  broken 
outline,  480  by  215  feet,  plan  of  proposed  new  county  Court-house.  5.  Small 
broken  outline,  plan  of  second  almshouse,  1797-1857;  also  site  of  Upper 
Barracks  of  larger  extent  420  by  21  feet,  1757-1790.  There  were  additional 
Barracks  between  sites  5  and  16  during  the  Revolution.  6.  Solid  outline, 
present  County  Court-house,  begun  1861.  7.  Present  City  Court-house,  erected 
1852.  8.  Site  of  Rotunda,  1818-1870.  9.  Site  of  dispensary  and  soup-house, 
181 7  and  later;  also  of  fire  engine  house,  removed  1906.  10.  New  Municipal 
Building  in  course  of  erection.  I  I.  Site  of  temporary  fire  engine  house  built 
1859.  12.  Subway  kiosks.  13.  Approximate  site  of  old  State  Arsenal;  later, 
Free  School  No.  r,  circa  1809.  14.  Fortifications  built  by  Americans  in  1776 
(Hills' survey,  1782  5).  15.  Postal  Telegraph  Building,  253  Broadway;  site  of 
Montagnie's  Tavern,  headquarters  of  Sons  of  Liberty,  1770  and  earlier.  16. 
Plan  of  Bridewell.  1775-1838  (Mangin's  survey,  1804);  a  Revolutionary  prison. 
17.  City  Hall,  begun  1803 ;  site  of  first  Almshouse,  1736-1797.  18.  Site  of  Gaol, 
the  "Martyrs'  Prison"  of  the  Revolution,  later  Hall  of  Records,  1757-1903 
(Mangin's  survey).  19.  Site  of  Powder  Magazine  (Maerschalck's  survey  1755, 
and  Montresor's  survey,  1775).  20.  New  York  World  Building.  21.  Nathan 
Hale  Statue.  22.  Approximate  site  of  first  building  on  the  Common,  early 
18th  century.  23.  Fountain,  built  1871.  24.  Statue  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
in  Printing  House  Square.  25.  New  York  Sun  Building,  built  1811,  first  per- 
manent Tammany  Hall.  26.  Approximate  site  of  grave  of  Jacob  Leisler 
as  located  on  Grim's  recollection  map,  but  may  have  been  a  little  farther 
north.  27.  New  York  Tribune  Building;  statue  of  Horace  Greeley  in 
vestibule.  28.  American  Tract  Society  Building;  site  of  Martling's  Tavern; 
rendezvous  of  Sons  of  Liberty  and  "Martling's  Men";  Wigwam  of  Tammany 
Society,  1798.  29.  Building  formerly  occupied  by  New  York  Times.  30.  Site 
of  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  built  1768.  31.  Site  of  Croton  Water  Fountain 
in  what  was  once  part  of  City  Hall  Park;  triangle  is  now  occupied  by  United 
States  Post-office  and  Court-house.  32.  Astor  house,  built  1834-38  ;  site  of 
Drovers'  Inn  and  other  early  hostelries.  33.  Nos.  21,  23,  25  Park  Row,  site 
of  successive  Park  Theatres,  1798-1848,  frontage  of  78  feet  on  Park  Row 
and  85  feet  on  Theatre  Alley.  Part  of  this  site  (No.  21  Park  Row)  is  now 
occupied  by  the  Park  Row  Building.  34.  Saint  Paul  Building;  southern  half 
of  this  property  is  site  of  Spring  Garden  House.  On  this  property  stood 
Bicker's  Tavern,  bought  by  Sons  of  Liberty  after  they  'eft  Montagnie's  and 
named  Hampden  Hall  Later  site  of  Scudder's  Museum  and  Barnum's  Museum. 
35.  Saint  Paul's  Chapel,  begun  in  1764. 


2  1 


New  York  and  Boston  or  between  New  York  and  Maryland;  12 
pence  between  New  York  and  Virginia,  and  4^  pence  between 
New  York  and  any  place  not  exceeding  80  miles  distance.  This 
law  was  renewed  from  time  to  time,  with  changes  in  the  rates, 
for  several  years. 

For  over  a  century — during  the  remainder  of  the  English 
regime  and  the  beginning  of  the  American — the  Post-office 
itself  was  an  extremely  rudimentary  establishment,  generally 
maintained  at  the  residence  of  the  postmaster.  It  was  also  a 
very  nomadic  institution,  moving  from  place  to  place  with  the 
changes  of  postmaster.  The  New  York  Gazette  of  July  30, 
1753,  for  instance,  gives  notice  that  ''The  Postoffice  will  be 
removed  on  Thursday  next  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Alexander 
Colden  opposite  to  the  Bowling  Green  in  the  Broad-Way  where 
the  Rev'd  Mr.  Pemberton  lately  lived." 

The  first  postmaster  of  the  city  after  the  Revolution  was 
Sebastian  Bauman,  appointed  by  President  Washington,  and  the 
post-office  was  then  located  in  his  residence  at  the  corner  of 
William  street  and  Garden  street  (now  Exchange  Place).  In 
1807  the  Postmaster  was  General  Theodorus  Bailey,  who  had 
taken  up  his  residence  in  the  same  house  and  continued  the  post- 
office  there.  The  post-office  then  consisted  of  a  room  about  25  or 
30  feet  deep,  having  two  windows  fronting  on  Garden  street  and 
a  little  vestibule  on  William  street  containing  about  100  boxes. 

The  post-office  remained  at  the  latter  site  until  July  4.  1827, 
when  it  was  removed  to  the  basement  of  the  new  Exchange  in 
Wall  street,  which  had  been  opened  May  1  of  that  year.  The 
Exchange  was  burned  in  the  great  fire  of  1835.  Then  the  post- 
office  was  removed  to  the  Rotunda  in  the  northeastern  corner  of 
City  Hall  Park.  This  location  gave  great  dissatisfaction  to 
business  men  at  that  time  on  account  of  its  great  distance  from 
the  business  center  of  the  town  !  In  1845  the  post-office 
was  removed  from  the  Rotunda  to  the  Middle  Dutch  Church, 
which  occupied  the  block  on  the  eastern  side  of  Nassau  street 
from  Cedar  street  to  Liberty  street.  Upon  the  building  of  the 
Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co.  of  New  York,  which  now  occupies 
that  site,  is  a  tablet  reading  as  follows :  "  Here  stood  the 
Middle  Dutch  Church.  Dedicated  1729.  Made  a  British  Mili- 
tary Prison  1776.  Restored  1790.  Occupied  as  the  United 
States  Postoffice  1845-1875.  Taken  down  1882.  The  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Co.  of  New  York." 


22 


As  early  as  1853  the  postoffice  had  become  so  inadequate 
that  the  United  States  began  to  look  around  for  a  new  site.  In 
April  and  May,  1857,  the  Mayor  was  authorized  by  the  Common 
Council  to  negotiate  with  the  Federal  authorities  for  the  cession 
of  the  land  at  the  southern  angle  of  the  Park  or  a  portion  of 
the  upper  part  of  the  Park  fronting  Chambers  street  between 
Broadway  and  Centre  street,  for  a  new  Postoffice,  but  nothing 
definite  was  effected  and  in  1861  came  the  interruption  of  the 
Civil  War. 

Immediately  after  the  War,  efforts  were  renewed  to  find  a 
site,  and  the  lower  end  of  City  Hall  Park  was  chosen.  On  De- 
cember 15,  17  and  18,  1866,  respectively,  the  Councilmen,  Alder- 
men and  Mayor  of  the  City  consented  to  the  sale  of  the  site 
embracing  an  area  of  65,259  square  feet,  for  the  purposes  of  a 
United  States  Postoffice  and  Court-house.  The  property  was 
conveyed  by  the  Mayor,  Aldermen  and  Commonalty  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  parties  of  the  first  part,  to  the  United  States  of 
America,  parties  of  the  second  part,  by  deed  dated  April  11, 
1867  (Liber  1012,  page  142  et  seq.,  of  Conveyances,  Hall  of 
Records),  the  consideration  being  the  sum  of  $500,000.  The 
conveyance  was  made 

"Upon  the  express  condition,  however,  that  the  premises 
above  described  and  every  part  and  parcel  thereof,  and  any 
building  that  may  be  erected  thereon,  shall  at  all  times  hereafter 
be  used  and  occupied  exclusively  as  and  for  a  postoffice  and 
court-house  for  the  United  States  of  America  and  for  no  other 
purpose  whatever,  and  upon  the  further  condition  that  if  the 
said  premises  shall  at  any  time  or  times  cease  to  be  used  for  the 
purposes  above-limited  or  for  some  one  of  them,  or  if  the  same 
shall  be  used  for  any  other  purposes  than  those  above  specified, 
the  said  premises  hereby  conveyed  and  all  right,  title,  estate  and 
interest  therein  shall  revert  to  and  be  revested  in  the  said 
parties  of  the  first  part,  their  successors  and  assigns,  and  the 
said  parties  of  the  first  part  shall  thereupon  become  the  absolute 
owners  of  the  said  premises  and  every  part  thereof  with  the 
appurtenances  and  they  may  then  re-enter  the  said  premises  and 
forever  thereafter  use,  occupy  or  alien  the  said  premises  and 
every  part  thereof  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent 
as  if  these  presents  had  not  been  executed." 

The  erection  of  the  postoffice  was  not  begun  at  once  and  it 
was  proposed  to  use  another  part  of  the  Park  for  the  purpose. 
On  June  17,  July  19  and  July  20,  1869,  respectively,  the  Alder- 
men, Assistant  Aldermen  and  Mayor  approved  of  the  following 
resolution: 


23 


"  Resolved  that  a  joint  committee  of  three  members  of  each 
Board  be  appointed  by  the  respective  Presidents  thereof  to  con- 
fer with  Messrs.  Horace  Greeley,  William  Orton  and  Alexander 
T.  Stewart,  Commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
respecting  a  proposed  exchange  of  the  65,259  square  feet  of  land 
in  the  City  Hall  Park  heretofore  deeded  by  the  City  to  the 
United  States  for  another  plot  of  ground  of  similar  area  at  a 
different  location  in  said  Park,  which  proposed  exchange  has 
been  recently  authorized  to  the  City  by  the  Legislature  and 
requested  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  by  the  above-named 
Commissioners." 

The  foregoing  resolution  is  interesting  as  indicating  the 
names  of  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  Government 
in  the  Postoffice  matter,  but  it  did  not  result  in  any  change  of 
plan.  The  present  postoffice  was  begun  in  1870  and  was  first 
occupied  August  25,  1875.  The  building  cost  between  $6,000,000 
and  $7,000,000.  This  edifice,  in  turn,  is  already  outgrown  and 
inadequate  for  the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the  General 
Postoffice,  and  a  new  postoffice  in  another  part  of  the  City  is 
being  planned.  In  view  of  these  plans,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  municipal  authorities  will  bear  in  mind  and  enforce  the  con- 
ditions of  the  deed  to  the  United  States,  which  provide  that  the 
present  Postoffice  site  shall  revert  to  the  City  when  any  part  of 
it  shall  cease  to  be  used  for  a  United  States  Postoffice  and  Court- 
house or  shall  be  used  for  any  other  purpose.  Indeed  it  is  a 
question  whether  the  Federal  Government's  tenure  has  not 
already  been  forfeited  by  the  use  of  the  building  for  a  private 
library,  and  we  are  informed  that  the  Hon.  George  B.  McClellan, 
during  his  recent  incumbency  as  Mayor  of  the  City,  gave  notice 
to  the  Federal  Government  of  the  latter's  violation  of  the  con- 
ditions of  the  deed. 

Building  Propositions  Rejected 

Not  every  building  proposed  to  be  erected  in  City  Hall  Park 
has  materialized.  On  August  19,  1771,8  proposition  to  erect  a 
public  market  in  the  Fields  was  voted  down  by  the  Common 
Council  by  a  vote  of  11  to  4.  In  October  the  proposition  was 
renewed,  but  was  again  voted  down. 

During  Mayor  Paulding's  incumbency  in  1824  it  was  pro- 
posed to  remove  to  the  North  River  the  Bridewell  and  Jail  which 
stood  on  either  side  of  the  City  Hall  and  to  construct  two-story 
houses  in  the  Park  lacing  Chatham  street  (Park  Row)  and  lease 
them  for  the  sake  of  the  revenue  which  the  City  might  derive. 


24 


On  another  occasion  il  was  proposed  to  erect  a  City  Hos- 
pital near  the  Bridewell,  and  the  Corporation  actually  voted  to 
give  the  land  for  the  purpose,  but  public  sentiment  was  so 
strongly  opposed  to  the  project  that  the  action  was  rescinded. 

At  still  another  time,  early  in  the  last  century,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  erect  a  reservoir  in  the  Park  for  the  purpose  of  supply- 
ing the  City  with  water  from  the  Bronx  River. 

In  1888  the  Legislature  authorized  a  commission  to  select  a 
site  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  County  Court-house  for  a  Muni- 
cipal building.  The  proposition  to  locate  the  building  in  the 
City  Hall  Park  was  indignantly  resented,  and  for  several  years, 
as  stated  elsewhere  (page  5),  there  was  a  "tug  of  war"  be- 
tween the  Commission  and  the  people.  At  one  time  the  Com- 
mission would  get  the  advantage  with  a  law  permitting  the 
building  in  the  Park.  Then  the  remonstrants  would  prove  the 
stronger  and  drag  the  Commissioners  from  their  ground  by  an 
amendment  excluding  them  from  the  Park.  After  several  oscil- 
lations of  fortune,  the  protestants  finally  won  and  the  Municipal 
building  was  located  where  it  is  now  in  course  of  construction, 
on  the  triangle  at  Centre  street  and  Park  Row. 

Park  Improvements 

As  the  city  grew  in  population  and  the  structures  erected 
upon  the  old  Common  grew  more  pretentious,  a  natural  desire 
to  improve  the  grounds  gradually  found  expression  until  the 
wild  and  uncultivated  cow-pasture  of  colonial  days  became,  just 
before  the  Civil  War,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  city  parks  in 
America.  Perhaps  the  first  intimation  of  the  increasing  dignity 
of  the  Common  is  afforded  by  Col.  John  Montresor's  map  of 
1775,  which  entitles  the  Fields  "The  intended  Square,  or  Com- 
mon." The  names  of  the  Fields  and  the  Common,  however, 
still  continued  in  popular  use  at  this  period,  with  the  occasional 
use  of  the  name  Green.  In  June,  1785,  appears  the  first  move- 
ment for  the  enclosure  of  the  Fields  with  a  fence  In  that 
month  the  Common  Council  approved  the  plans  of  the  Alms- 
house Commissioners  to  that  effect,  "  if  it  could  be  done  without 
expense  to  the  Corporation."  It  is  not  surprising,  perhaps,  that 
upon  these  economical  terms  the  fence  failed  to  materialize.  In 
1787  the  improvement  of  the  Green  advanced  a  stage  farther 
when  the  Council  ordered  that  the  paupers  in  the  Almshouse  be 
employed  in  collecting  street  dirt  and  spreading  it  on  the  Com- 


25 


mon  in  front  of  the  Almshouse,  to  manure  the  ground  and  pre- 
pare it  for  grass  seed. 

In  1792  the  Fields  were  enclosed  for  the  first  time  with  a 
fence  of  posts  and  rails.  In  1797,  when  the  structural  encum- 
brances of  the  Fields  had  been  reduced  to  the  second  Alms- 
house, the  Gaol  and  the  Bridewell,  and  when  the  Fields  were 
surrounded  by  a  rail  fence,  the  old  Common  first  appears  on  the 
map  under  the  dignified  title  of  "  The  Park." 

Early  in  the  last  century  the  rail  fence  was  superseded  by 
one  of  wooden  palings,  and  then,  as  the  civic  pride  increased, 
nothing  less  than  an  imported  iron  fence  would  do.  On  Dec. 
31,  1821,  the  iron  railing  for  the  Park  arrived  from  England.  In 
order  to  avoid  duty,  it  was  complete  only  in  parts.  When  the 
fence  was  erected,  it  had  at  the  southern  gateway  four  marble 
pillars  surmounted  by  iron  scroll-work  supporting  lanterns. 
Coins  and  other  mementoes  were  deposited  in  one  of  them.  The 
completion  of  the  improvement  was  celebrated  with  public  exer- 
cises, including  the  delivery  of  an  address  by  Dr.  Samuel  L. 
Mitchill.  Trees  were  then  set  out  in  the  enclosure,  and  two 
generous  ladies — Mrs.  Sages  of  their  day — gave  rose-bushes, 
which  were  planted  within  the  railings  and  which  withstood  the 
frosts  of  winter,  the  vandalism  of  boys  and  the  depredations  of 
flower-thieves  for  more  than  a  year. 

In  1832  the  Superintendent  of  Buildings  was  directed  to 
cause  the  grass  plats  in  the  Park  to  be  surrounded  with  iron 
chains  supported  on  turned  locust  posts;  and  in  1834  some  of 
the  walks  in  front  of  the  City  Hall,  from  Broadway  to  Chatham 
street,  were  laid  with  flag-stones  two  feet  wide.  When  the 
Croton  Water  Works  were  nearing  completion,  a  beautiful  foun- 
tain was  erected  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Park.  This  portion  of 
the  Park,  now  obliterated  by  the  Post  Office,  was  then  tastefully 
laid  out  with  gravel  walks  and  adorned  with  trees.  On  Oct.  14, 
1842,  the  climax  was  reached  when,  amid  a  celebration  such  as  the 
city  had  never  before  witnessed,  and  with  demonstrations  of  joy- 
ful popular  enthusiasm  seldom  if  ever  excelled,  the  Croton  water 
arrived  and  gushed  forth  from  the  fountain.  The  procession  on 
this  occasion,  estimated  to  have  been  seven  miles  long,  was  re- 
viewed at  the  Park  by  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen.  Here  the  water- 
works were  formally  delivered  to  the  city.  A  brilliant  illumina- 
tion in  the  evening  ended  the  festivities.  For  days  the  great 
fountain  continued  to  be  an  object  of  extraordinary  curiosity, 


l6 


and  for  years  it  added  grace  and  beauty  to  the  supremest  period 
of  this  once  beautiful  Park.  The  fountain  was  so  important  a 
feature  of  the  Park  at  that  time  that  a  special  office  was  created 
for  its  care.  Thus  we  read  that,  in  1848,  for  instance,  Thomas 
Cole  was  appointed  "Keeper  of  the  Park  Fountain." 

From  this  time  on,  until  the  sale  of  the  Post  Office  site,  the 
Park  was  the  object  of  minor  improvements,  such  as  the  substi- 
tution of  iron  posts  for  the  entrance  gates  in  1852  to  facilitate 
ingress  and  egress,  but  nothing  could  be  done  materially  to  en- 
hance its  beauty.  Then  came  the  Post  Office  on  the  south  and 
the  County  Court-house  on  the  north,  and  the  Park  was  reduced 
to  its  present  disennobled  proportions. 

Historical  Events — Aboriginal  Period 
Having  now  reviewed  the  history  of  the  physical  develop- 
ment of  the  Park  and  its  buildings,  we  may  return  to  the  begin- 
ning and  glance  briefly  at  the  history  of  the  spot. 

It  has  been  surmised  *  that  before  the  advent  of  Europeans 
this  was  the  site  of  one  of  the  villages  of  the  Manhattan  Island  In- 
dians. The  eligible  situation  of  this  comparatively  level  tract, 
sloping  downward  on  all  sides — to  the  Lispenard  Meadows  and 
swamps  and  the  Fresh  Water  Pond  on  the  north,  the  Beekman 
swamps  on  the  east,  and  the  slightly  lower  land  on  the  south 
and  west — would  have  made  it  a  desirable  location  for  a  vil- 
lage, and  the  finding  of  a  large  admixture  of  oyster  shells  of 
apparent  age  in  the  soil  would  tend  to  indicate  the  presence 
or  proximity  of  aboriginal  occupancy  at  some  time;  but  there 
is  no  positive  evidence  that  there  was  a  village  here. 

Historical  Events — Dutch  Period— 1626-1673 
During  the  Dutch  period  the  Common  was  one  of  the 
parade  grounds  of  the  soldiers  when  they  marched  up  from  Fort 
Amsterdam  on  training  days. 

In  1664,  when  the  little  city  of  New  Amsterdam  was  cap- 
tured by  the  English,  the  troops  of  the  latter  who  remained  in 
the  Bowery  until  the  Dutch  had  evacuated  the  Fort,  marched 
down  over  this  tract. 

In  1673,  when  the  Dutch  fleet  under  Capt.  Anthony  Colve 
arrived  to  repossess  the  City,  the  Dutch  captain  landed  600  men 
on  the  Island  and  put  them  in  battle  array  on  the  Common  in 

*  D.  T.  Valentine  in  the  Corporation  Manual  for  1856. 


27 


preparation  fur  the  march  on  the  City,  which  then  lay  below  the 
City  Wall  at  WaH  street.  Capt.  Manning,  who  commanded  the 
City,  sent  Capt.  Carr,  Thomas  Lovelace  and  Thomas  Gibbs  to 
negotiate  terms  with  Colve,  but  the  latter  detained  Lovelace  and 
Gibbs  as  hostages  on  the  Common  and  sent  Carr  back  to  the  fort 
with  a  summons  to  surrender  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  No 
reply  being  received,  Colve  in  a  passion  ordered  his  men  to  march 
from  the  Common  to  the  Fort.  They  proceeded  down  Broadway, 
and  as  they  approached  the  fort  they  were  met  by  a  messenger 
from  the  English  commander  who  offered  to  surrender  if  the 
garrison  were  allowed  to  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war.  The 
request  was  granted  and  the  city  again  changed  hands. 

Under  the  second  Dutch  regime  the  Common  became  the 
place  of  general  parade. 

Historical  Events — English  Period,  1674  to  1765 

Under  the  English  the  Common  continued  to  be  a  popular 
rallying  place,  particularly  on  festive  occasions.  This  was  more 
especially  the  case  after  the  old  parade  ground  in  front  of  the 
fort  was  authorized  in  1732  to  be  enclosed  as  a  Bowling  Green, 
thus  forming  the  first  city  park.  On  the  Common,  the  King's 
Birthday,  the  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  the  Gunpowder 
Plot,  and  other  festive  occasions  were  observed  with  bonfires 
and  other  demonstrations  of  loyalty  or  joy.  But  the  demonstra- 
tions began  to  assume  a  differentcolor  in  1764  when  a  press  gang's 
boat  was  seized  by  a  mob  who  carried  it  to  the  Common  and 
burned  it. 

Another  stirring  event  of  that  year  was  the  arrest  and  incar- 
ceration of  Major  Rogers  of  the  King's  troops  in  the  New  Gaol 
The  gallant  Major  had  been  cutting  a  pretty  prominent  figure  in 
the  town,  and  living  beyond  his  means,  until  his  creditors  became 
tired  of  airy  promises  to  pay  and  put  him  in  prison.  His  com- 
rades, stationed  in  the  neighboring  barracks,  took  his  arrest  as  an 
insult  to  His  Majesty's  arms  and  an  infringement  of  their  superior 
authority,  and  demanded  his  release.  The  jailor  shook  his  keys 
contemptuously  at  the  enraged  soldiers,  and  told  them,  in  effect 
if  not  in  words,  that  if  they  wanted  their  Major  they  would  have 
to  come  and  get  him.  This  they  proceeded  to  do,  breaking  open 
the  jail  doors  with  muskets  and  axes,  releasing  Rogers,  and  giving 
the  other  prisoners  an  opportunity  to  escape.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, standing  more  in  awe  of  the  civil  power  than  their  riotous 


28 


and  uninvited  deliverers,  declined  to  avail  themselves  of  this 
temporary  and  unauthorized  amnesty  and  remained  in  prison. 
The  riot,  which  was  finally  quelled  by  the  militia,  cost  the  soldiers 
the  life  of  one  of  their  Sergeants. 

Historical  Events— English  Period,  1765  to  1775 

The  next  year,  made  memorable  by  the  adoption  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  the  Common  became  the  stage  upon  which,  in  the 
succeeding  decade,  were  enacted  many  scenes  which  foreshadowed 
the  coming  Revolution.  On  Nov.  1,  1765,  the  first  mass  meeting 
in  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act  was  held  here,  being  signalized 
by  the  erection  of  a  gallows  upon  which  the  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor was  burned  in  effigy.  On  the  following  day  another  popular 
meeting  was  held  with  a  view  to  seizing  the  stamps,  but  action 
was  deferred.  From  that  time  until  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act 
in  March,  1766,  other  meetings  of  a  similar  character  were  held. 

On  June  4,  1766,  a  great  meeting  was  held  on  the  Common 
to  celebrate  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  act.  The  jubilant 
populace  erected  a  flagstaff  inscribed  "King,  Pitt,  and  Liberty," 
and  further  manifested  its  joy  by  consuming  a  roast  ox,  25  barrels 
of  ale,  and  a  hogshead  of  rum  punch. 

For  the  peace  of  the  community,  however,  it  was  not  the 
most  fortunate  thing  that  the  Upper  Barracks,  in  which  the 
King's  troops  were  quartered,  were  so  close  to  the  rallying  place 
of  the  Liberty  Boys,  and  after  the  Liberty  Pole  had  been  up  a 
little  more  than  two  months,  the  soldiers  cut  it  down.  Promptly 
the  next  day  (Aug.  11)  a  meeting  was  held  on  the  Common  to 
erect  another,  but  the  soldiers  attacked  the  people  and  wounded 
several  of  them,  and  the  attempt  was  deferred  several  days, 
when  another  pole  was  successfully  raised. 

On  Sept.  23,  1766,  the  second  Liberty  Pole  was  cut  down  by 
unknown  persons,  but  a  third  pole  was  erected  two  days  later. 
On  March  18,  1767,  the  third  pole  was  destroyed.  The  next  day 
a  fourth  pole  was  erected,  secured  by  iron  braces  and  bands 
and  watched  by  a  citizens  guard.  On  March  21  the  soldiers 
tried  to  destroy  this  emblem  of  liberty  but  were  repulsed  by  the 
citizens.  On  Dec.  17,  1767,  a  mass  meeting  was  held  on  the 
Common  in  opposition  to  the  Mutiny  Act. 

So  affairs  continued  until  1 769-1 770  when  the  Liberty  Pole 
contests  culminated  in  the  Battle  of  Golden  Hill,  which  has 
been  called  the  first  bloodshed  of  the  Revolution. 


29 


In  December,  1769,  a  handbill  was  printed  and  circulated, 
addressed  to  the  4<  betrayed  inhabitants  of  the  City  and  Colony 
of  New  York,"  sharply  reproving  the  Assembly  for  voting  sup- 
plies to  the  King's  troops,  accusing  it  of  betraying  the  common 
cause  of  Liberty,  and  inviting  the  citizens  to  meet  at  the  liberty 
pole  in  the  Fields  to  express  their  sentiments.  It  was  signed 
"A  Son  of  Liberty."  The  authorities  were  scandalized  by  the 
handbill  and  sought  its  author.  While  the  search  was  going 
on,  the  soldiers,  on  Jan.  13,  1770,  again  attacked  the  Liberty  Pole 
but  were  repulsed.  On  Jan.  16,  however,  the  soldiers  succeeded 
in  felling  the  pole,  sawing  it  up,  and  piling  it  in  front  of  Mon- 
tagnie's  door,  the  headquarters  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  on 
Broadway.  On  Jan.  17  upwards  of  3,000  indignant  citizens 
assembled  on  the  Common  and  erected  another  Liberty  Pole. 
This  pole,  strongly  reinforced  with  iron,  was  surmounted  by  a 
topmast  and  vane,  the  latter  bearing  the  word  "Liberty"  in 
large  letters.  On  January  18  three  soldiers  were  caught  posting 
on  the  Fly  Market,  at  the  foot  of  Maiden  Lane,  a  scurrilous 
placard  impugning  the  character  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and 
signed  "  The  Sixteenth  Regiment  of  Foot."  Several  citizens,  led 
by  Isaac  Sears,  took  the  soldiers  before  the  Mayor.  A  number  of 
armed  soldiers  from  the  Fort  demanded  their  release.  The  two 
parties  of  citizens  and  soldiers  moved  tumultuously  to  Golden 
Hill,  about  at  John  and  William  streets.  Here  the  soldiers 
turned  and  fired  on  the  citizens,  killing  one,  wounding  three, 
and  injuring  many  others.  Many  of  the  soldiers  were  badly 
beaten. 

A  sequence  of  the  placard-posting  was  the  arrest  of  Alex- 
ander MacDougall.  Through  the  confession  of  the  printer,  the 
handbill  of  December,  1769,  was  traced  to  MacDougall,  one  of 
the  leading  spirits  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  he  was  cast  into 
the  New  Gaol  in  the  Fields,  as  the  Common  was  now  called. 

MacDougall's  case  was  so  similar  to  that  of  John  Wilkes, 
who  had  been  imprisoned  in  England  for  a  famous  article  on 
individual  liberty,  printed  in  No.  45  of  "The  North  Briton," 
that  his  friends  adopted  "45"  as  their  cabalistic  number. 
Holt's  Journal  of  February  15,  1770,  records  the  following  visit 
of  the  "  Forty-five  "  to  MacDougall  in  his  new  quarters:  "Yes- 
terday, the  forty-fifth  day  of  the  year,  forty-five  gentlemen 
friends  of  Captain  MacDougall  and  the  glorious  cause  of  Ameri- 
can Liberty,  went  in  decent  procession  to  the  New  Gaol  and 


5  = 


dined  with  him  on  forty-five  pounds  of  beaf  steaks,  cut  from  a 
bullock  forty-five  months  old."  So  great  was  the  pressure  of 
MacDougall's  callers  that  he  had  to  establish  regular  reception 
hours,  and  under  date  of  the  "  New  Gaol,  February  10,  1770," 
he  published  a  notice  to  his  friends,  stating  that  he  would  be 
"glad  of  the  honor  of  their  company  from  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  until  six."  He  was  released  on  bail  in  April.  During 
the  Revolutionary  War  he  became  a  Major-General  in  the  Conti- 
nental Army,  and  at  one  time  had  command  at  West  Point. 

On  March  26,  1770,  the  soldiers  made  an  attempt  to  remove 
the  topmast  and  Liberty  vane  of  the  Liberty  Pole  and  a  contest 
ensued  between  them  and  the  citizens,  but  without  fatal  results. 
On  May  10  a  mass  meeting  was  held  in  the  Fields  to  oppose 
the  importation  of  English  goods,  and  in  June  a  quantity  of 
English  wares  seized  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty  were  brought  here 
and  burned. 

On  July  6,  1774,  a  great  meeting  was  held  in  the  Fields  in 
opposition  to  the  act  of  Parliament  known  as  the  Boston  Port 
Bill.  At  this  meeting  one  of  New  York's  most  distinguished 
citizens,  Alexander  Hamilton,  first  appears  as  a  public  orator. 
Hamilton  was  a  student  at  old  King's  College  (now  Columbia 
University)  which  stood  two  blocks  west  of  the  present  City 
Hall  Park  on  a  site  indicated  by  a  tablet  at  Murray  street  and 
West  Broadway.  Irving,  in  his  Life  of  Washington,  referring 
to  Hamilton  on  this  occasion,  says:  "Hamilton  was  present, 
and,  prompted  by  his  excited  feelings  and  the  instigation  of 
youthful  companions,  ventured  to  address  the  multitude.  The 
vigor  and  maturity  of  his  intellect,  contrasted  with  his  youthful 
appearance,  won  the  admiration  of  his  auditors;  even  his 
diminutive  size  gave  additional  effect  to  his  eloquence." 

On  Sunday,  April  23,  1775,  a  travel-stained  horseman 
dashed  down  the  old  Post  Road,  past  the  Common,  and  to  the 
center  of  the  city,  spreading  the  news  of  the  Battle  of  Lexing- 
ton. The  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  colonies  had  come,  the 
loyal  citizens  at  once  took  measures  for  enlisting  soldiers,  and  a 
Citizens  Committee  assumed  the  government  of  the  city.  On 
May  26  the  Asia  man-of-war  arrived  and  the  Royal  Irish  Regi- 
ment remaining  in  the  Upper  Barracks  on  the  Common  evacu- 
ated their  quarters  and  withdrew  to  the  ship  on  June  6,  1775. 
In  doing  so,  they  attempted  to  remove  five  cart-loads  of  spare 
arms.    At  Broad  and  Beaver  streets  they  were  boldly  halted 


3 


by  Marinus  Willett  and  others,  deprived  of  the  five  carts  con- 
taining the  arms,  and  were  then  permitted  to  embark  without 
further  molestation. 

Historical  Events — Revolutionary  Period— 1776-1783 

With  the  evacuation  of  Boston  by  the  British  on  March  17, 
1776,  and  the  transfer  of  the  seat  of  war  to  New  York,  the  Fields 
became  the  camp-ground  and  the  drilling  place  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. 

The  Americans  at  once  set  themselves  actively  at  work  for- 
tifying the  city  and  barricading  the  streets.  The  Fields  were 
almost  completely  hemmed  in  with  fortifications,  every  avenue 
of  approach  being  guarded.  At  St.  Paul's  Church  there  were  two 
barricades  at  right  angles  to  each  other  one  extending  across 
Broadway  and  one  across  the  front  of  the  church-yard.  Other 
barriers  extended  across  the  heads  of  Barclay,  Robinson  (now 
Park  Place)  and  Murray  streets.  On  the  Chatham  street  side 
a  barricade  was  erected  across  the  head  of  Beekman  street ; 
another,  right-angular  in  form,  was  in  the  present  Printing 
House  Square,  one  face  commanding  George  (now  Spruce) 
street,  the  other  commanding  the  Presbyterian  Church  Yard  (on 
the  south  side  of  the  Square)  and  Nassau  street ;  another  con- 
fronted Frankfort  street  ;  another,  forming  an  obtuse  angle, 
occupied  Chatham  street  in  front  of  the  present  World  Building; 
and  another  long  one  extended  from  the  site  of  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge  entrance  diagonally  across  Chatham  street  to  the  upper 
eastern  end  of  the  Barracks  on  Chambers  street. 

A  notable  figure  in  the  history  of  the  Park  at  this  period 
was  Alexander  Hamilton,  who,  in  March,  1776,  became  Captain 
of  artillery  in  a  newly  raised  provincial  corps.  It  was  while 
exercising  his  company  here  that  he  became  the  object  of  one  of 
those  interesting  concurrences  of  events  which  oftentimes  mark 
the  turning  point,  not  only  in  individual  careers,  but  also  in  the 
course  of  historic  events.  We  can  best  describe  this  occurrence, 
which  brought  together  Hamilton  and  Washington  and  which 
had  a  profound  influence  on  the  future  of  both  men  and  the 
cause  of  Independence  itself,  by  quoting  Irving.  Speaking  of 
the  middle  of  the  year  1776,  he  says  : 

"  About  this  time  we  have  the  first  appearance  in  the  military 
ranks  of  the  Revolution  of  one  destined  to  take  an  active  and 
distinguished  part  in  public  affairs  and  to  leave  the  impress  of 


32 


his  genius  on  the  institutions  of  the  country.  As  General 
Greene  one  day,  on  his  way  to  Washington's  headquarters,  was 
passing  through  a  field — then  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  now 
in  the  heart  of  its  busiest  quarter  and  known  as  the  Park — he 
paused  to  notice  a  provincial  company  of  artillery,  and  was 
struck  with  its  able  performances  and  with  the  tact  and  talent  of 
its  commander.  He  was  a  mere  youth,  apparently  about  20 
years  of  age  ;  small  in  person  and  stature,  but  remarkable  for 
his  alert  and  manly  bearing.  It  was  Alexander  Hamilton.  Greene 
was  an  able  tactician  and  quick  to  appreciate  any  display  of 
military  science  ;  a  little  conversation  sufficed  to  convince  him 
that  the  youth  before  him  had  a  mind  of  no  ordinary  grasp  and 
quickness.  He  invited  him  to  his  quarters  and  from  that  time 
cultivated  his  friendship.  .  .  .  Further  acquaintance  height- 
ened the  General's  opinion  of  his  extraordinary  merits  and  he 
took  an  early  occasion  to  introduce  him  to  the  Commander-in- 
Chief." 

It  may  truly  be  said  that  City  Hall  Park  was  the  birthplace 
of  Hamilton's  public  career. 

The  Park  was  also  the  scene  of  another  historic  event  which 
alone  should  have  dedicated  it  forever  to  the  cause  of  Liberty  in 
the  hearts  of  the  citizens  of  New  York.  That  was  the  reading 
here  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  on  the  receipt  of  that 
immortal  document  on  the  9th  of  July,  1776.  Washington  had 
given  orders  that  the  Declaration  be  read  to  the  several  brigades 
quartered  in  and  about  the  city  at  6  o'clock  that  evening.  Ac- 
cording to  the  relation  of  an  eye-witness  to  the  historian  Henry 
B.  Dawson,  the  brigade  encamped  on  the  Fields  was  drawn  up 
in  a  hollow  square  on  the  southern  part  of  the  Park,  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Post  Office,  and  the  Declaration  was  read  by  one  of 
the  aids  of  Washington,  the  Commander-in-Chief  himself  being 
present. 

In  August  occurred  the  Battle  of  Long  Island  and  in  Sep- 
tember the  Americans  evacuated  New  York,  and  for  seven  long 
years  not  a  Continental  soldier  was  seen  in  the  Fields  except  as 
a  prisoner  of  war.  In  the  latter  capacity  nearly  4,000  American 
troops  fell  into  British  hands  as  the  result  of  the  Battle  of 
Long  Island  (Aug.  27)  and  the  Battle  of  Fort  Washington  (Nov. 
16).  The  Gaol  and  Bridewell  in  the  Fields  were  filled  to  their 
utmost  capacity,  and  churches,  sugar  houses,  the  old  City 
Hall,  the  King's  College,  private  dwellings  and  prison  ships 
were  brought  into  requisition  to  accommodate  the  rest.  The 
Gaol  in  the  Fields  was  reserved  for  the  more  notorious  "  rebels,' 


33 


and  the  memory  of  the  sufferings  which  the  Continental  soldiers 
endured  under  the  inhuman  Provost  Marshal,  Wm.  Cunning- 
ham, adds  still  further  to  the  sacred  character  of  this  historic 
place.    The  Gaol  was  now  called  the  Provost. 

Cunningham's  figure  is  one  of  the  most  repulsive  in  the 
history  of  the  war.  He  was  a  corrupt,  hard-hearted  and  cruel 
tyrant,  who  hesitated  at  nothing  that  would  add  to  the  miseries 
of  his  helpless  victims  or  to  his  own  wealth  and  comfort.  His 
hatred  for  the  Americans  found  vent  in  the  application  of  torture 
with  searing-irons  and  secret  scourges  to  those  of  his  charges 
who,  for  any  reason,  fell  under  the  ban  of  his  displeasure.  His 
prisoners  were  crowded  so  closely  into  their  pens  that  their 
health  was  broken  by  partial  asphyxiation  ;  and  many  of  them 
were  starved  to  death  for  want  of  food  which  the  Provost  Mar- 
shal had  sold  to  enrich  his  own  purse.  The  abused  prisoners 
were  refused  permission  to  see  their  nearest  relatives  and  were 
allowed  to  suffer  unattended  when  ill.  They  were  given  muddy 
water  to  drink,  although  beautifully  clear  water  was  obtainable 
from  neighboring  springs  ;  and  a  prisoner's  weekly  ration  was 
restricted  to  two  pounds  of  hard  tack  and  two  pounds  of  raw 
salt  pork,  with  no  means  of  cooking  it. 

An  admission  to  this  Bastille,  with  its  known  and  unknown 
horrors,  was  enough  to  appall  the  stoutest  heart.  Henry  Onder- 
donk,  Jr.,  in  a  contribution  to  Valentine's  Manual  for  1849, 
says: 

"The  northeast  chamber,  turning  to  the  left  on  the  second 
floor,  was  appropriated  to  officers  and  characters  of  superior 
rank,  and  was  called  Congress  Hall.  So  closely  were  they 
packed  that  when  they  lay  down  at  night  to  rest  (when  their 
bones  ached)  on  the  hard  oak  planks  and  they  wished  to  turn,  it 
was  altogether,  by  word  of  command,  '  Right-Left,'  the  men 
being  so  wedged  as  to  form  almost  a  solid  mass  of  human  bod- 
ies. In  the  day  time  the  packs  and  blankets  of  the  prisoners 
were  suspended  around  the  walls,  every  precaution  being  taken 
to  keep  the  rooms  ventilated  and  the  walls  and  floors  clean  to 
prevent  jail  fever." 

"  In  this  gloomy  abode  were  incarcerated  at  different  peri- 
ods many  American  officers  and  citizens  of  distinction,  awaiting, 
with  sickening  hope,  the  protracted  period  of  their  liberation. 
Could  these  dumb  walls  speak,  what  scenes  of  anguish  might 
they  not  disclose!  The  Captain  and  his  Deputy  were  enabled 
to  fare  sumptuously  by  dint  of  curtailing  the  prisoners'  rations, 
exchanging  good  for  bad  provisions,  and  other  embezzlements. 
In  the  drunken  orgies  that  usually  terminated  his  dinners,  Cun- 


34 


ningham  would  order  the  rebel  prisoners  to  turn  out  and  parade 
for  the  amusement  of  his  guests,  pointing  them  out  with  such 

characterizations  as,  '  This  is  the  d  d  rebel,  Ethan  Allen,' 

'This  is  a  rebel  judge,'  etc." 

In  the  allusion  to  Allen  we  recognize  the  presence  of  the 
celebrated  patriot  who  had  captured  Ticonderoga,  "  in  the  name 
of  the  great  Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress."  After 
taking  the  Lake  Champlain  stronghold  he  had  joined  the  expe- 
dition against  Montreal,  and  been  captured  on  September  25, 
1775.  He  was  taken  to  England,  thence  to  Halifax,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  1776  was  brought  to  New  York,  where  he  was  at  first 
allowed  the  freedom  of  the  city  on  his  parole.  Here  he  was 
subjected  to  every  persuasion  by  General  Howe  to  induce  him 
to  desert  the  American  cause  and  serve  the  King.  He  was 
offered  a  commission  in  the  King's  army  and  promised  large 
tracts  of  land  in  Vermont  at  the  close  of  the  war;  but  his  loyalty 
to  the  Colonies  was  so  true  that  he  indignantly  rejected  all 
attempts  to  purchase  his  integrity,  and  his  confidence  in  the  out- 
come of  the  struggle  for  independence  was  so  strong  that  he 
openly  predicted  his  Majesty's  inability  to  fulfill  his  promises  in 
regard  to  the  land. 

It  may  readily  be  imagined  that  the  failure  of  these  persua- 
sions to  move  the  steadfast  patriot  did  not  tend  to  ingratiate 
him  in  the  favor  of  his  captors,  and  in  January,  1777,  they 
clapped  him  into  jail  on  the  charge  (which  he  stoutly  denied)  of 
having  broken  his  parole. 

Allen  was  just  the  sort  of  "  rebel  "  whom  Cunningham  liked 
to  have  in  his  clutches,  and  he  was  promptly  assigned  to  a  soli- 
tary dungeon,  without  bread  or  water  for  three  days.  Then  he 
was  given  a  bit  of  fat  pork  and  a  hard  biscuit  with  which  to 
break  his  fast. 

Allen  grew  restive  under  his  confinement,  and  evidently 
considered  himself  neglected  by  his  friends,  as  appears  in  a 
letter  from  Joseph  Webb  to  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull  of 
Connecticut  ("  Brother  Jonathan  "),  arranging  for  an  exchange 
of  prisoners.  "Ethan  Allen  begs  me  to  represent  his  situation  to 
you,"  wrote  Webb,  "  that  he  has  been  a  most  attached  friend  to 
America;  and  he  says  he's  forgot;  he's  spending  his  life,  his 
very  prime,  and  is  confined  in  the  Provost,  and  they  say  for 
breaking  his  parole,"  etc.  In  May,  1778,  he  was  exchanged  for 
Colonel  Campbell  of  the  British  army. 


35 


Major  Otho  Holland  Williams  was  another  unfortunate 
confined  in  the  Provost. 

It  is  impossible  to  relate  all  the  dark  deeds  done  by  the 
inhuman  Cunningham  during  the  seven  years  in  which  he  had 
charge  of  the  Gaol,  or  recount  a  tithe  of  the  suffering  therein 
endured  by  thosewhohad  championed  the  cause  of  American  inde- 
pendence, for  no  records  were  preserved,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  dramatic  and  pathetic  history  of  that  period  of  the  building's 
existence  is  known  only  to  Him  "  from  whom  no  secrets  are  hid." 
But  enough  is  known  to  make  the  site  of  the  building  one  ever 
to  be  held  in  sacred  remembrance. 

The  war  at  length  came  to  an  end,  and  on  November  25, 
1783,  the  British  evacuated  New  York.  Most  of  the  city  prisons 
had  been  emptied  before  the  close  of  hostilities,  but  the  Provost 
was  continued  in  use  until  Evacuation  Day. 

"I  was  in  New  York  November  25,"  wrote  General  Johnson, 
"and  at  the  Provost  about  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  when  an  American 
guard  relieved  the  British  guard,  which  joined  a  detachment  of 
British  troops  then  on  parade  in  Broadway,  and  marched  down 
to  the  Battery,  where  they  embarked  for  England." 

It  is  chronicled  that  as  the  Deputy  O'Keefe  was  about  to 
depart,  the  prisoners  called  out  asking  what  was  to  become  of 
them. 

"  You  may  go  to  the  devil,"  was  the  reply. 

"Thank  you,"  rejoined  one  of  the  prisoners,  "we  have  had 
enough  of  your  company  in  this  world." 

It  would,  in  a  measure,  appease  one's  sense  of  justice  if  the 
reported  fate  of  the  inhuman  Provost  Marshal  could  be  con- 
firmed. It  is  stated  with  a  degree  of  precision  that,  having  been 
convicted  of  forgery — an  offence  which  would  appear  to  have 
been  more  serious  in  English  estimation  than  the  torture  and 
murder  of  helpless  prisoners — he  was  hanged  in  London  August 
10,  1791.  But  there  is  no  official  confirmation  of  this,  or  of  the 
"dying  confession"  which  he  is  said  to  have  made  in  the  follow- 
ing words  : 

"I  was  appointed  Provost  Marshal  to  the  Royal  Army, 
which  placed  me  in  a  situation  to  wreak  vengeance  on  the 
Americans.  I  shudder  to  think  of  the  murders  I  have  been 
accessory  to,  both  with  and  without  orders  from  the  Govern- 
ment, especially  while  we  were  in  New  York,  during  which  time 
there  were  more  than  2,000  prisoners  starved  in  the  churches  by 
stopping  their  rations,  which  I  sold.     There  were  also  275 


36 


American  prisoners  and  obnoxious  persons  executed,  which 
were  thus  conducted  :  A  guard  was  dispatched  from  the 
Provost  about  half- past  12  o'clock  at  night  to  the  Barrack  street, 
and  the  neighborhood  of  the  Upper  Barracks,  to  order  the 
people  to  shut  their  window  shutters  and  put  out  their  lights, 
forbidding  them  at  the  same  time  to  look  out  of  their  windows 
and  doors  on  pain  of  death  ;  after  which  the  unfortunate  prison- 
ers were  conducted,  gagged,  just  behind  the  Upper  Barracks, 
and  hung  without  ceremony,  and  there  buried  by  the  black 
pioneer  of  the  Provost." 

Whether  or  no  the  foregoing  ever  proceeded  from  Cunning- 
ham's lips,  there  is  only  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  it  repre- 
sents the  truth. 

Historical  Events— War  of  1812-1815 

Hardly  had  the  new  City  Hall  been  completed  when  the 
declaration  of  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  again  made 
the  Park  the  scene  of  stirring  patriotic  events.  The  news  of  the 
declaration  of  war  reached  New  York  on  June  20,  1812,  and  at 
noon  on  the  24th  a  great  public  meeting  was  held  in  the  Park  to 
take  the  matter  under  consideration.  The  venerable  Col. 
Henry  Rutgers,  an  old  Revolutionary  officer,  presided,  and  Col. 
Marinus  Willett,  one  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  and  also  a  Revolu- 
tionary hero,  was  Secretary.  The  Act  of  Congress  and  the 
President's  proclamation  having  been  read,  a  preamble  and 
resolutions  supporting  the  Government  were  read.  The  pre- 
amble began: 

"  In  one  of  those  awful  and  interesting  moments  with  which 
it  has  pleased  Heaven  that  states  and  kingdoms  should  be 
visited,  we  consider  ourselves  convoked  to  express  our  calm, 
decided  and  animated  opinion  on  the  conduct  or  our  Govern- 
ment." 

The  preamble  continued  in  this  impressive  manner,  and 
was  followed  by  resolutions  approving  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Government  to  preserve  peace,  but  declaring  the  belief  that  the 
crisis  had  arrived  when  peace  could  no  longer  be  retained  with 
honor — and  justifying  the  Government's  appeal  to  arms.  The 
appeal  now  being  made  to  the  sword,  the  meeting  called  upon 
all  fellow-citizens  to  yield  the  Government  their  undivided  sup- 
port. "Placing  our  reliance  in  the  Most  High,"  said  the  last 
resolution,  "and  soliciting  his  benediction  on  our  just  cause, 
we  pledge  to  our  Government,  in  support  of  our  beloved 
country,  'our  lives,  our  fortunes  and  our  sacred  honor.'  " 


37 


Two  years  later  (August  21,  1814),  when  the  city  was 
threatened  with  attack,  the  people  again  assembled  in  the  Park 
to  renew  their  pledges.  Col.  Rutgers  again  presided.  Oliver 
Wolcott  was  Secretary.  They  sat  on  the  balcony  of  the  City 
Hall.  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill,  Dr.  W.  J.  McNeven,  and  Messrs. 
Wolcott,  Riker,  Anthony,  Bleecker  and  Sampson  were  appointed 
to  draft  resolutions,  and  those  which  they  presented  had  the 
same  ring  as  those  of  1812.  Col.  Willett  was  also  there  and 
addressed  the  assemblage  with  patriotic  fervor.  "  Three  score 
and  fourteen  years,"  he  said,  "  have  brought  with  them  some 
bodily  infirmities.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  and  had  my  strength 
of  body  remained  as  unimpaired  as  my  love  for  my  country  and 
the  spirit  that  still  animates  me,  you  would  not,  my  friends, 
have  seen  me  here  today.  I  should  have  been  amongst  that 
glorious  band  that  on  the  waters  of  Erie  and  Ontario  have 
achieved  so  much  fame  and  lasting  glory  for  their  country.  .  .  . 
Fifty  years  ago  I  was  at  a  meeting  of  citizens  on  this  Green. 
Then  the  acclamation  was  'Join  or  die!'  The  unanimity  of  that 
day  procured  the  repeal  of  some  obnoxious  laws."  Then  he 
ran  over  the  events  leading  up  to  the  Revolution,  and  events  of 
the  war  itself;  and  continued:  "In  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
it  was  a  favorite  toast:  '  May  every  citizen  be  a  soldier,  and 
every  soldier  a  citizen.'  Our  citizens  must  now  again  become 
soldiers,  and  those  soldiers  good  citizens.  ...  As  to  this  mis- 
taken idea  that  American  militia  are  unequal  to  the  contest 
with  British  regulars,  I  am  a  living  witness  to  the  contrary.  I 
have  met  them  when  their  numbers  were  double  mine  and  I 
have  routed  and  pursued  them." 

One  cannot  read  the  whole  of  the  speech  from  which  the 
foregoing  words  have  been  taken  without  thrilling  and  feeling 
that  the  lofty  sentiments  expressed  at  that  crisis  still  further 
dedicated  the  Park  with  very  sacred  traditions  to  the  genera- 
tions which  have  come  after. 

On  October  23,  1814,  Gov.  D.  D.  Tompkins,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  New  York  Militia  and,  by  appointment  by  the  Pres- 
ident, in  command  of  the  Third  Military  District  of  the  United 
States,  made  his  headquarters  in  the  City  Hall,  and  during  the 
remainder  of  that  critical  period  the  City  Hall  and  Park  were 
the  base  from  which  the  military  operations  in  this  neighborhood 
were  conducted. 


3« 


Historical  Events  Between  the  Wars— 1815-1861 

During  the  period  between  the  War  of  1812-15  and  the  Civil 
War,  City  Hall  Park  was  the  focus  of  almost  every  festive  dem- 
onstration of  a  public  character  that  occurred  in  the  city.  Among 
these  the  Independence  Day  celebrations  were  notable  events. 
Here  was  the  culmination  of  the  Fourth  of  July  Parade,  which 
was  composed  of  the  militia  and  civic  societies  and  which  gen- 
erally formed  at  the  Battery,  and  here  the  procession  was  reviewed 
by  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  and  dismissed  with  a  feu  de  joie. 

For  many  years  it  was  customary  on  the  eve  of  Fourth  of 
July  to  erect  around  the  Park  booths  where  roast  pig,  eggnog, 
cider  and  spruce  beer  were  among  the  viands  dispensed.  On 
June  29,  1841,  a  vote  was  taken  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen  on  the 
proposition  to  refuse  permits  for  the  erection  of  these  booths,  but 
the  custom  had  such  a  firm  hold  that  the  motion  was  lost  and  the 
practice  was  continued  for  a  few  years  longer  before  it  was 
abolished. 

Besides  these  Fourth  of  July  celebrations,  many  other  inter- 
esting events  occurred  at  this  place.  Here  Lafayette  was  given 
a  brilliant  reception  on  Aug.  16,  1824;  here  was  the  focus  of  the 
land  celebration  of  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal  on  Nov.  24, 1825 ; 
here  was  the  center  of  the  Croton  Water  celebration  Oct.  14,  1842; 
here  the  laying  of  the  Atlantic  cable  was  celebrated  in  August, 
1858,  by  an  illumination  of  the  City  Hall  from  which  the  building 
caught  fire  ;  from  here  the  funeral  of  Gen.  Wm.  J.  Worth  took 
place  Nov.  25,  1857;  and  here  in  i860  the  Prince  of  Wales,  now 
Edward  VII  of  England,  was  received  with  great  ceremony. 
These  are  only  a  few  of  the  ceremonies  which,  during  the  period 
mentioned,  marked  City  Hall  Park  as  the  civic  center  of  the  City. 

An  occurrence  of  less  agreeable  aspect  was  the  riot  precipi- 
tated by  Mayor  Fernando  Wood  in  1857.  In  that  year  the 
charter  was  amended  and  the  Metropolitan  Police  system  estab- 
lished having  jurisdiction  over  the  counties  of  New  York,  Kings, 
Westchester  and  Richmond.  Mayor  Wood  refused  to  accede  to 
the  new  system  and,  gathering  the  old  police  force  around  him, 
defied  the  Metropolitan  Police  and  threatened  with  violence  those 
who  attempted  to  get  the  offices  in  their  control.  When  Daniel 
D.  Conover  was  appointed  Street  Commissioner  by  Gov.  King, 
Mayor  Wood  drove  him  from  the  City  Hall.  Conover  secured 
a  warrant  for  Wood's  arrest  and  proceeded  to  execute  it  with  the 
aid  of  fifty  Metropolitan  police.    Arriving  at  the  City  Hall  he 


39 


found  it  closed  against  him  and  filled  with  armed  policemen  of 
the  old  force.  A  conflict  ensued.  The  Mayor  had  the  sympathy 
of  the  worst  class  of  the  population  and  a  mob  gathered  for  his 
support.  A  bloody  riot  ensued.  Just  at  this  juncture  the  Sev- 
enth Regiment  came  down  Broadway,  en  route  to  embark  on  a 
steamboat  for  a  trip  to  Boston.  It  stopped  long  enough  to  sup- 
port the  Metropolitan  Police  in  enforcing  order  and  serving  the 
warrant,  and  then  continued  on  its  way.  But  the  spirit  of  defi- 
ance of  the  law  thus  encouraged  by  Mayor  Wood  was  aroused 
and  broke  out  in  other  parts  of  the  city  in  bloody  riots,  which 
were  not  quelled  until  six  persons  had  bee"n  killed  and  a  hundred 
wounded. 

Historical  Events— Civil  War  Period,  1861-1865 

With  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  the  Park  again  became 
the  scene  of  martial  activity.  In  the  very  first  month  of  the 
war,  in  April,  1861,  the  Common  Council  passed  a  resolution 
authorizing  the  State  authorities  to  erect  a  building  in  the  Park 
for  barracks  and  to  provide  an  eating  place  for  volunteers.  In 
February,  1862,  when  the  Common  Council  directed  the  removal 
of  all  tents  and  booths  from  the  public  parks,  the  barracks  in 
City  Hall  Park  were  specifically  excepted.  From  time  to  time 
during  the  war  permits  were  granted  for  the  erection  of  recruit- 
ing tents. 

Our  Cradle  of  Liberty 

In  bringing  to  a  conclusion  this  very  imperfect  sketch,  the 
words  of  Henry  B.  Dawson,  the  historian,  concerning  this 
storied  Park,  may  be  quoted  with  as  much  force  today  as  when 
he  uttered  them  55  years  ago: 

"  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Park  is  still  the  refuge 
of  the  people.  .  .  .  Here  they  have  met  La  Fayette  and 
other  friends  of  freedom  and  their  country,  making  the  welkin 
ring  with  their  joyous  shouts;  and  here  they  have  mingled  their 
tears  over  the  memory  of  Jackson,  Clay  and  other  departed 
worthies.  On  all  occasions,  whether  of  joy  or  sorrow,  of  pros- 
perity or  calamity,  of  welcome  or  of  separation,  the  Park  is  now, 
as  it  ever  has  been,  the  resort  of  the  people.  Nor  does  it  possess 
much  less  interest  to  others  than  to  us.  The  past — the  common 
property  of  all — shows  the  Park  to  have  been  the  Faneuil  of  New 
York,  the  cradle  in  which  the  much-lauded  '  cradle  of  liberty  1 
in  Boston  was  itself  rocked  in  its  infantile  years." 


40 


